Cardinals top prospect Alex Reyes has MRI on first day of camp
It didn’t take long for the baseball gods to try and claim their first victim. St. Louis Cardinals top pitching prospect Alex Reyes underwent an MRI on Tuesday after experiencing right elbow discomfort.
While the MRI results are not expected until Wednesday, the news surrounding Reyes has slowly escalated throughout the day. The whole ordeal started after Reyes skipped his throwing session Tuesday. He was not cleared by the team’s training staff. That’s what set off the red flags.
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Eventually, Reyes underwent an MRI. While that’s never a good thing, it’s also a standard move in this situation. You don’t want to take any chances with a player as talented as Reyes.
With Cardinals fans already in a panic, manager Mike Matheny added fuel to the fire. When asked about the MRI, Matheny said, “there must be a significant reason to do this.” Shortly after Matheny’s quote came out, it was revealed Reyes was dealing with discomfort in his pitching elbow.
While that’s normally the type of thing to set off alarm bells, general manager John Mozeliak preached patience moving forward.
Mo on potential Reyes injury: “Rather than speculate on anything now, it’s best just to wait until tomorrow when we get the [MRI] read.”
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) February 14, 2017
Despite the fact that the team won’t announce the extent of Reyes’ injury until Wednesday, there are already some reports out there that it could be significant.
There is significant concern inside the Cardinals’ organization that Alex Reyes, their star pitching prospect, needs Tommy John surgery.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 14, 2017
If that’s the case, it would be a devastating blow to the Cardinals. While Reyes isn’t a household name just yet, he was poised for superstardom this season. The 22-year-old ranked as the top overall prospect according to Baseball Prospectus. He ranked fourth on Baseball America’s top-100 list and sixth on MLB.com’s list.
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The talented right-hander put some of his skills on display with St. Louis last season. In a brief 46 innings stint with the major-league club, Reyes posted a 1.57 ERA. He pitched in 12 games over that period, making five starts.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
