UPDATE 4:43 p.m.: WCCO Radio’s Cory Provus said on Twitter that the Twins are calling Arraez’s injury a right ankle sprain.
The Minnesota Twins can’t have nice things — even when they are in a pennant chase.
As the Twins wrapped up their regular season, one of the biggest concerns was having one of their players get hurt in a meaningless game. It’s the same reason why they decided to hold Max Kepler out of this weekend’s games in Kansas City as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
While the Twins will be able to avoid a setback with Kepler and many other Twins, they were not so fortunate with Luis Arraez. In the bottom of the seventh inning of Saturday’s game with the Royals, Arraez chased down a pop-up and collided with Willians Astudillo.
There has not been an official diagnosis, but the results of the play looked catastrophic. Arraez’s leg appeared to buckle on the play, which occurred by the pitcher’s mound. After several minutes, Arraez was put on a cart and was shown shedding tears as he was taken out of the game.
None of the developments in this sequence looked good and while we don’t have an official diagnosis, it looks like there is a good chance that Arraez’s season will come to a close.
The loss of Arraez is a devastating one for the Twins. The 22-year old made his major league debut back on May 18 when he was called up in the wake of Nelson Cruz’s first stint on the injured list due to a ruptured wrist tendon and hadn’t stopped hitting since he arrived in Minnesota.
In 91 games for the Twins, Arraez hit .339 with four home runs and 28 RBI while also serving as a spark plug for the Minnesota lineup. While Arraez will have plenty of time to pick up where he left off in 2020, the injury will have a ripple effect on the postseason roster.
In the short term, it’s likely Jonathan Schoop will be forced to play a bigger role in the playoffs while the Twins may opt to keep Ronald Torres on the postseason roster with Arraez presumably out of the picture.
