Nico Hoerner’s triceps injury is worse than originally thought, based on results from an MRI on Thursday, but the team has no immediate plan to put him on the injured list with 18 games left in the season.
They also have no plans to shut him down — or to bring him back in a role that limits or eliminates throwing.
The MRI showed a mild to moderate strain, the team said, and his status remains under day-to-day evaluation.
“He could pinch run or be the DH, sure,” manager David Ross said, “but then there’s sliding and [other risks]. We’re going to make sure he’s healthy before we get him back out there and that would all aspects.”
Hoerner, who was sidelined by injuries for significant stretches the first two seasons of his career, has career highs in almost every category this year, not the least of which is games played (125).
“We’re going to try to work on him to get back. He wants to get back,” Ross said. “He’s pretty disappointed with the news and information.
“I don’t think he has anything left to prove to us this year,” he added. “But I would definitely say the guy likes to play baseball, and we like those guys out there as much as possible.”
MLB
Hoerner has proved he can play shortstop at a high level after entering the season as a question mark there, and he leads the team with a .291 average (with nine home runs and a .759 OPS).
“He’s a big part of what we’re doing here,” Ross said.
Hoerner was unavailable before each of the first two games of this weekend series against the Rockies, between medical consultations for the MRI and treatments.
“It’s a little worse off than we thought,” Ross said of those results. “He’s feeling good, which is nice. The MRI showed a little bit more [to suggest] needing to be cautious. So we’re just going to try to play it day to day. He’ll be out for a couple more days.”