White Sox prospect Micker Adolfo underwent successful surgery on a fractured fibula, an injury that included ligament damage, on Friday and is expected to be back to 100 percent for the beginning of spring training in 2016.
Adolfo suffered the injury Aug. 5 sliding during an Arizona League game. The White Sox are hopeful the injury to the 18-year-old, who was signed to a club-record $1.6 million signing bonus as an international free agent in 2013, won’t be a major setback.
“We are talking about a kid who would be a senior in high school right now,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “He certainly has youth on his side in terms of this recovery. We certainly have a great deal of development time ahead of us on our side so that in all probability this is not a long term major setback. Obviously it’s disappointing he wasn’t able to get through the whole season healthy.
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“He suffered a painful injury, but we are fairly confident it won’t have any long term impact on him.”
Adolfo made his professional debut in the United States as a 17-year-old in 2014, hitting five home runs with a .217/.281/.378 slash line for the rookie-level AZL White Sox. In 22 games repeating the level in 2015 — he’s still about two years younger than the average player in the league — he hit .253/.323/.313 with no home runs.
“You don’t want to minimize the impact of any injury,” Hahn said. “It’s unfortunate. It was painful. Unfortunately it turned out to be surgical. But in terms of long term impact on his ultimate major league career four, five or six years from now, we don’t think it will have any impact.”
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Hahn also provided an update on second baseman Micah Johnson, who’s been sidelined since July 29 with a strained left hamstring. The 25-year-old, who began the 2015 season in the majors, recently arrived in Arizona to rehab his injury and should return to Triple-A Charlotte in seven to 10 days.
In 299 plate appearances since being demoted to the minor leagues in mid-May, Johnson has a .328/.383/.487 slash line with 26 stolen bases in 32 attempts.