Minnesota Twins pitcher and top prospect Jordan Balazovic will be out for at least the next 7-10 days after suffering a broken jaw.
Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey told reporters on Saturday that Balazovic was involved in an “altercation” on Feb. 11 away from the team’s facility and the injury required surgery where the 24-year-old’s jaw was wired shut.
While there were no arrests made after the altercation, Balazovic’s timetable to return is uncertain, although he’s expected to resume throwing in 7-to-10 days.
Balazovic was selected in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB Draft and became one of the Twins’ top prospects, pitching a scoreless inning in the 2019 MLB Futures Game and ranking 86th on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospect list prior to the 2020 season.
The pandemic stunted Balazovic’s progress, however, as players couldn’t play in games due to the shortened season. Balazovic went 5-4 with a 3.62 ERA at Double-A Wichita in 2021 and suffered a knee injury before going 0-7 with a 7.68 ERA at Triple-A St. Paul last season.
While his health was a reason for optimism heading into this year, it appears that Balazovic will have another setback to overcome before making his season debut.
