After receiving a somewhat positive update regarding catcher Yasmani Grandal‘s injury yesterday, the White Sox have provided an additional update this afternoon.
The team says that following further evaluation in Chicago, it was deemed that a surgical procedure was necessary to repair the torn tendon in his left knee. The surgery was performed today by Dr. Nikhil Verma of Midwest Ortho. at Rush, with Dr. Shane Nho assisting, at Gold Coast Surgery Center.
There’s no clear indication on whether or not the initial four to six weeks timeline for Yaz’s return remains in place. The club says an updated timeline will be provided in the future, although the doctors still expect Grandal to return at some point during the 2021 regular season.
As for Yaz, he seemed to be in good spirits on his Instagram story this morning. He posted the below update, which echoes the above expectations for him to return to the field in the second half.
At the time of his injury, Grandal was hitting .188 (34-181) with 14 home runs, 38 RBI, 60 walks and a .388 on-base percentage over 63 games this season. Looking at just the last month or so, he slashed .256/.392/.561 with a .405 wOBA and 160 wRC+ while walking 18% of the time, a tough loss for the team in need of offense.
We’ll have to wait and see if this injury impacts Yaz’s ability to catch regularly upon his return. If he’s unable to be penciled in behind the plate, it could present a very interesting conversation over how the DH position is filled, especially with Eloy Jimenez expected to be making his return in the next month or so. Until that point, we’ll see how the duo of Zack Collins and Seby Zavala manages to fare.
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Featured Photo: White Sox/Twitter
