Help Needed: Hitters Who Played Through a 2021 Injury
With the season just over, I’d like some help collecting information on the hitters who played through a 2021 injury. First, I’m not looking for those who may have struggled because of COVID-19 complications but played through a physical injury.
The information can help fantasy managers help point to why a hitter may have struggled when they begin their 2022. Also, my research has shown that these hitters see a production decline that can be incorporated into projections. It’s one offseason data point to have available going forward.
But first, here is how last year’s list faired.
| Name | Steamer Proj | Actual | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronald Acuña Jr. | .929 | .990 | .061 |
| Ozzie Albies | .822 | .798 | -.024 |
| Luis Arraez | .789 | .733 | -.056 |
| Nolan Arenado | .827 | .806 | -.021 |
| Jackie Bradley Jr. | .721 | .497 | -.224 |
| Ryan Braun | |||
| Kris Bryant | .821 | .834 | .013 |
| Matt Chapman | .829 | .717 | -.112 |
| Maikel Franco | .782 | .608 | -.174 |
| Joey Gallo | .810 | .809 | -.001 |
| Bryce Harper | .908 | 1.044 | .136 |
| José Iglesias | .714 | .700 | -.014 |
| Kevin Kiermaier | .687 | .716 | .029 |
| Scott Kingery | .668 | .106 | -.562 |
| Shed Long Jr. | .701 | .618 | -.083 |
| Max Muncy | .820 | .895 | .075 |
| Shohei Ohtani | .833 | .964 | .131 |
| Roberto Pérez | .658 | .564 | -.094 |
| Jorge Polanco | .768 | .826 | .058 |
| Jose Ramirez | .879 | .893 | .014 |
| J.T. Realmuto | .789 | .782 | -.007 |
| Anthony Rendon | .880 | .771 | -.109 |
| Pedro Severino | .715 | .691 | -.024 |
| Gio Urshela | .751 | .720 | -.031 |
| Christian Vázquez | .720 | .660 | -.060 |
| Luke Voit | .810 | .765 | -.045 |
| Average | -.045 | ||
| Median | -.024 |
The results hold this year with the hitter projection missing by about 25 to 50 points. If Kingery is removed, both the median and average go to -.023. These are almost are just a little higher than the historical values (Average = -.017, median = -0.009).
Please let me know if I’m missing from the following list in the comments. All I ask is that as much information as possible is provided like the location (e.g. hip), when (e.g. spring training), or an article link. Just a name doesn’t help. I started begging on Twitter and here are the hitters I have so far (list from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020). There is a second table that contains players some people thought played through an injury but I could not find a source to verify. Thanks.
Some later additions from the comments (the table with the links is a mess to redo, so I’ll try to redo it after I think the list is done).
- Kolten Wong (oblique)
- Mike Moustakas (plantar fasciitis)
- Rhys Hoskins (back)
- Willy Adames (quadricep)
- Tom Murphy (shoulder)
- Trevor Larnach (shoulder)
- Mike Yastrzemski (hand)
- Dominic Smith (shoulder)
| Name (injury) |
|---|
| Charlie Blackmon (groin) |
| Javier Báez (foot ) |
| Jeff McNeil (hamstring) |
| Jesse Winker (hip/back) |
| José Ramírez (foot ) |
| Juan Soto (shoulder) |
| Justin Upton (back) |
| Michael Conforto (hamstring) |
| Mike Yastrzemski (hand) |
| Nick Castellanos (wrist) |
| Tim Anderson (hamstring) |
| Trent Grisham (hamstring/heel) |
| Yoán Moncada (leg soreness and shoulder) |
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Can you please include what metric this is? I assume OPS.
Thanks, fixed
Didi Gregorius was dealing with side effects from medication to manage his right elbow injury. Might be worth including.
https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/phillies-didi-gregorius-pseudogout-injured-list-20210803.html
I wouldn’t trust that given that he has dumb ideas about the effects of medication
https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/phillies-didi-gregorius-blames-covid-vaccine-20210916.html
This is a weird one … I’ll consider it.
Andrew Vaughn was/is dealing with a back issue going back a month or so, I believe he went on the IL but was fighting through it before that. You can see the effect in his 15-game rolling wRC+ very clearly, he was really getting going before that.
Yasmani Grandal had a knee issue he was dealing with from spring training until he went on the IL for knee surgery, although that might have been the other knee and the surgery was due to him over-correcting.
Adam Engel has been dealing with persistent hammy and to a lesser extent left shoulder issues throughout the season, who might be fantasy relevant if the lines he’s put up in SSS in 2020 and 2021 are real at all.
Eloy Jimenez tore his pec right before opening day and came back months later, if that counts for your purpose.
Buxton also tore his hip flexor, like Robert, though not as severely I think. Poor guy can’t stay healthy.
Nick Madrigal’s coming back from a bad hamstring tear next year but I don’t believe there was any indication his hammy was an issue before the tear. Same with Robert, I don’t know that he ever actually played through it as a nagging issue, seems like it just happened suddenly and he was out for months. He certainly didn’t miss a beat coming back
Vaughn – I found no mention in any article. Until then, he’s in the second list.
Grandal – Again, I can’t find anything in the press, so I’ll have to pass for now.
Engel – Went on the IL and all reports from his return say he was fine
Jimenez – Again nothing about him playing through anything
Buxton: On the list
Madrigal: Nothing about playing through an injury.
Would you consider Eloy Jimenez playing through injury? Maybe he came back too quickly from his pec injury and may have affected his last month and a half
I can’t find anything on him. Maybe it’ll come out during or after the playoffs
Yastrazemski and Grandal both injured themselves during spring training.
They did have those injuries but I can’t find anything about them playing through them.
There were articles in the player notes section of Yahoo fantasy baseball. It’s a good way to find information about injuries etc.
According to Yahoo, Grandal had his games per week capped during the first couple of months due to the injury.
https://www.mlb.com/news/yasmani-grandal-to-return-from-knee-injury
Yas:
https://aroundthefoghorn.com/2021/03/29/sf-giants-mike-yastrzemski-leaves-game/
There is nothing in the linked article about him playing through the injury.
Nothing in here about Grandal playing through a regular season injury
https://mobile.twitter.com/scottmerkin/status/1385655312858992641
https://mobile.twitter.com/MarkWSanchez/status/1379244955810496512
Mitch moustakas plantar faciaitis
Thanks and here is the link I found:
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2021/09/24/cincinnati-reds-news-mike-moustakas-dealing-injury/5850312001/
Since these are higher than historical values, do you think that extra downgrade is within expected deviations or the results of an additional pressure downwards?
I think it is just the results of a small sample.
Austin nola – fractured finger and knee injury
I found nothing on him playing through either injury.
Evan Longoria hand and shoulder
Again, I could not find anything on him playing through these. I sat and got healed up.
Safe to assume Tapia’s final month of production was affected by his toe injury, I think.
I only take documentation and there is none.
Avisail Garcia (back): https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/2021/09/17/avisail-garcia-expected-return-brewers-saturday/8386847002/
Kolten Wong (calf, oblique): https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2021/07/02/calf-issue-lands-kolten-wong-injured-list-third-time/7838891002/
https://www.mlb.com/news/kolten-wong-exits-early-with-oblique-injury
Wong’s is verified – Thanks.
With Garcia, it mentions his back and that he missed a game.
Willy Adames (quad): https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2021/09/08/milwaukee-brewers-shortstop-willy-adames-recovering-injury/5778943001/
Verified
An easy way to find injury articles: https://mlb.com/injury-report. Click “More” under the player’s team. Scroll through older articles on the left. Need to go back further? click on oldest article and wait a moment. Older articles will populate.
It’s about 100x easier to use Rotowire who list them by player.
Also, most injuries the player sits. I don’t care about those. A database of them is easy to get.
“(Rhys) Hoskins said he will have season-ending surgery … to repair a tear in his lower abdomen, an injury he had been quietly playing through this season.
Hoskins always planned to have surgery after the season, but the injury worsened over the past few weeks as he suffered and recovered from an injured left groin.”
He suffered the groin injury on 7/29 and played through it for seven games (with a 260 wRC+).
https://www.mlb.com/news/rhys-hoskins-back-on-injured-list-with-strained-groin
Thanks. Verified.
I would include Mark Canha into this discussion. He had a hip injury in July and after coming back his power completely disappeared along with his average exit velocity!
The emphasis on the word “Physical” implies that Covid complications are somehow non-physical which is a weird implication.
I had no luck finding anything thing. Sorry.
I thought the same thing
Smith played through injuries for much of the season, and several other Mets had their seasons interrupted by injuries.
https://theathletic.com/2873348/2021/10/07/what-went-wrong-for-the-2021-mets-on-the-field-and-how-can-they-fix-it/?source=rss
Aaron Judge: pinky and lower half fatigue: https://theathletic.com/2861339/2021/10/01/the-drive-of-yankees-slugger-aaron-judge-i-dont-want-to-spoil-this-opportunity/?source=rss