Boston Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez tweaked his left knee during drills, but is expected to be fine.
We can all breath a sigh of relief. The Boston Red Sox got their first injury scare of the spring on Saturday, but it appears that Eduardo Rodriguez is going to be fine.
Rodriguez tweaked his knee during fielding drills when one of his spikes got caught and he slipped, but he walked off the field with trainers claiming that he would be ok. The Red Sox will check on him again tomorrow, but no tests are scheduled as of yet.
It appears to be nothing serious, but any potential injury to such a talented young pitcher is bound to make the Red Sox fan base nervous. Even Rodriguez admitted that he initially feared that the fall had broken his knee, but it appears he managed to avoid that fate.
“Am I going to pitch again? Am I going to have to wait a long time? But now I’m fine,” a relieved Rodriguez revealed to reporters in the clubhouse, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford.
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The 22-year old is coming off of a promising rookie campaign where he went 10-6 with a 3.85 ERA in 121.2 innings. He has tremendous upside with a ceiling that could soon put him in the ace-caliber stratosphere, even if the Red Sox don’t actually need him to assume that mantle yet following the arrival of David Price. With a former Cy Young winner anchoring the rotation, Rodriguez will stick somewhere in the middle of the rotation for now where there will be less pressure and he’ll be less likely to be matched up against an opponent’s top starter.
Injuries are an unfortunate risk of the game, but the Red Sox spring training schedule doesn’t even start until next week. Getting hurt in a game is one thing, but you certainly don’t want your players getting hurt during drills.
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Luckily Rodriguez appears to have avoided any serious harm. The Red Sox staff will surely keep a sharp eye on him in the coming days to be sure, but he should be good to go for his first start of the spring next week.