Over the past several months, it’s been no secret that injures have affected some of the White Sox highly ranked prospects. The most notable was a ruptured left Achilles’ tendon suffered by Jake Burger that ended his season. Other injuries have included Micker Adolfo’s sprained UCL, Luis Robert’s sprained thumb, and Eloy Jiménez’s previously sprained knee and now sprained pectoral muscle. These injuries have caused some fans to worry and ask the question, are Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez fine or are they going to become seriously injury prone? Since these questions have been coming up more and more frequently, I felt compelled to finally write this article.
To start off, I want to say that I am no doctor so I cannot provide any fancy medical terms that would relieve you of any stress over this topic. Though, what I can say is that fans should not be panicking by any means. Both of these players are still incredibly young and have sustained no prior significant injuries that would suggest they will be injury prone later down the line. The injuries suffered by Eloy Jiménez, for example, are just strains that can be common for some players to go through early in the Spring. In Eloy’s case, they are usually caused by overuse or fatigue and are not of serious concern. It’s also worth nothing that it’s not like Eloy had previous surgery on his knee or shoulder and that’s what is causing the problems. Luis Robert’s injury is a little bit different from Eloy’s in that his sprained thumb came as the result of a slide. He is expected to miss a longer amount of time because of it, but it’s also the first real injury of his career. Additionally, it’s important to remember that the White Sox are being extremely cautious with both of these players, and are making sure that each fully recovers before returning to action. There’s absolutely no reason for the organization to rush them back on the field if they are not 100% healthy.
While it’s extremely hard to look into the crystal ball and see what their futures hold, the point I want to get across is that the injuries to Jiménez and Robert are nothing to get too alarmed by. Of course, nobody likes to see several of the top prospects miss time. But that’s why Rick Hahn and co. stacked this farm system with so much talent in case some guys get hurt. In the end, fans should just take a deep breath because everything will be fine. There’s no reason to stress out just yet.
