Just as several St. Louis Cardinals players are getting closer to injury rehab assignments, the team was dealt another blow as outfielder Randal Grichuk was placed on the disabled list Monday.
“It’s a muscle strain with a low-grade ligament strain,” said Grichuk of the inner-elbow injury. “Position players don’t normally have this happen to them–so kind of a freak injury for an outfielder.”
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“Our biggest concern right now is the muscle strain,” explained General Manager John Mozeliak. “Overall, ligament probably looks like a lot of different pitcher and position player elbows. So not overly concerned with that, but short-term will kind of let the muscle heal otherwise then I do think you expose the ligament to greater risk.”
The tightness in his elbow actually began earlier in the weekend.
“Kind of felt it on Saturday throwing a little bit and Sunday in the 1st inning trying to throw Dee out at home, kind of felt it pull a little bit,” shared Grichuk. “Had to make three or four more throws in the game and it just kept pulling and pulling.”
Because of the nature of the injury, Grichuk spoke with a few of the Cardinals pitchers to gain more insight into the recovery process.
“Just kind of seeing timetable and how bad it could be if I were to push it and just tried to play through it. Kind of got their opinions on stuff like that. I don’t know. They shut me down pretty quick so we’ll see. Hopefully hear pretty soon if it responds well and hopefully get back soon.”
As he won’t be required to throw 100+ pitches a game, that bodes well for a more timely recovery for Grichuk but he also can be involved sooner in other capacities.
“There are ways we can protect him,” said Mozeliak. “My understanding, from just swinging the bat for example, he’s not putting himself at risk. So ultimately, if the muscle can heal we can ultimately make sure from a defensive standpoint–you can send out the shortstop. Something like we’ve done in the past when an outfielder’s had that. Short-term I think was just in his best interest to let it quiet down and hopefully, this isn’t a long stint but I would say it’s probably likely going to be 15-20 days type.”
photo credit: Jeff Curry, Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
