Dodgers shortstop Lux out for year with torn ACL in right knee
Gavin Lux hasn't seen the video of the injury that ended his chance of being the Los Angeles Dodgers' starting shortstop this season and has no plans to watch it.
Lux will miss the season with torn ligaments in his right knee after getting hurt running the bases in a spring training game. The 25-yearold came to camp as the top candidate to replace the departed Trea Turner as the Dodgers' shortstop.
“That's one of the hardest parts,” Lux said Tuesday, while fighting back tears and leaning on crutches inside the team's facility in Glendale, Ariz. “I think every baseball player's dream is to play shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called the injury a huge blow and said his heart goes out the young infielder.
Lux got hurt Monday when running between second and third base against San Diego after a groundball was hit. Soon after ducking to avoid a throw, he took a couple of steps before his right knee buckled, he stumbled forward and fell to the ground. He said he felt something pop and his leg went numb.
“I tried to duck out of the way of the throw, and I think my cleat got kind of stuck into the ground a little bit and straightened out a little funky, and bowed out, and yeah, I kind of rolled up on my ankle, too.
Freak thing, I don't even think it's really avoidable,” Lux said. “In hindsight, probably should have just took the throw to the nose and worn it.”
Lux played only nine games at shortstop last season while hitting .276 in 129 games, most at second base and some in left field. He led the NL with seven triples, while hitting six homers and driving in 42 runs. TATIS IN SPRING TRAINING GAME >> Fernando Tatis Jr. played in his first game for San Diego after missing the 2022 season because of an injury and drug suspension. Tatis was in the lineup Tuesday as the designated hitter and batting second in an exhibition against San Francisco. He went 0-for-2 with a run scored in the Padres' 7-5 victory.
Tatis broke his left wrist on Oct. 3, 2021, and was on the cusp of returning when he was suspended for 80 games last Aug. 12 following a positive test for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid. Tatis blamed his positive PED test on a cream he said he took for ringworm.
He has 20 games left to serve on the suspension and barring postponements will be eligible to play April 20 at Arizona.
WHAT, NO UMPIRES? >> There was no umpire behind the plate calling balls and strikes, or even one of those socalled robo umps that could become part of the game in the future, when the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates kept playing Tuesday.
Umpires left the field after Baltimore's Josh Lester grounded out to end the top of the ninth inning with the Orioles trailing 7-4, officially ending the spring training game.
But the teams went ahead and played the bottom of the ninth inning after Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Baltimore skipper Brandon Hyde talked. The Orioles wanted to get some work on the mound for right-hander Ofreidy Gómez. Teams occasionally agree to shorten or lengthen spring training games depending on needs.
With the umpires gone, balls and strikes were called by the catcher, just like a backyard game. Maverick Handley, a non-roster invitee who has never played above Double-A, was behind the plate for the Orioles.