Cincinnati Reds 2B Matt McLain on shoulder injury status: ‘Up in the air right now’
GOODYEAR, Arizona — The left shoulder injury that has Matt McLain sidelined to start the season is not a bone chip or fracture, the Cincinnati Reds second baseman said, but he and the team don’t want to get more specific than that until McLain has a second medical opinion.
Whether the severity of the injury requires as much lost time as leadoff man/center fielder TJ Friedl will need for a broken wrist — or more — it’s hard to overstate the significance of losing McLain for a lengthy stretch. He was the Reds’ best player for much of last season as a rookie.
Manager David Bell said Wednesday that surgery was a possibility to repair the damage in McLain’s non-throwing shoulder.
By late Thursday, McLain’s camp and the team still did not have a time scheduled for the second evaluation.
“Things are up in the air right now,” McLain said. “I don’t have all the information yet, so I’m not making any assumptions or any decisions yet.”
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The only thing he knows for sure at this point is that he’s shut down from baseball activity, pending the next medical step.
And this: “Yeah, it hurts. It doesn’t feel great. But we’ll see how it goes. We’ll see how I progress and what (the doctor) says.”
Asked if he was concerned that he might have to miss a lot of time, McLain said: “Yeah, probably. I don’t know how much or how little. We’ll see.”
Team president Nick Krall acted quickly in backfilling for a potentially lengthy absence, trading a prospect to the Blue Jays on Wednesday for 2022 All-Star Santiago Espinal, who can play three infield spots but has primarily been a second baseman.
McLain hurt the shoulder earlier in the week diving for a ball during practice.
Friedl, who’s expected to be out until likely sometime in May, and McLain are two of the faster players on a team that uses its team speed as one of its most potent offensive weapons.
Bell, who still has the fastest player in baseball at his disposal in Elly De La Cruz, said he doesn’t anticipate a dramatic change in how the Reds plan to play without the top-of-the-order pair.
“Some of these guys may not be at Elly’s level, but we have good overall team speed,” Bell said. “So depending on the individual that’s on the bases, that’ll dictate our strategy. But overall, we’ll still be aggressive, and I still believe it’ll be a strength of our team.
“We’re also not talking about the whole season, hopefully, so we’ll be getting those guys back.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds’ Matt McLain on shoulder injury status: 'Up in the air'
