Hitters Who Played Through a 2025 Injury


Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

With the regular season over, it’s time to find out how hitters performed who didn’t let an injury heal and played through the pain. Whether these hitters cause permanent damage to their bodies or pick up bad habits, they continue to underperform their next season’s projections. Besides collecting the names myself, I’ve asked for some help (article) for this past season’s list.

First, here is a look at how 2024 hitters performed compared to their Steamer projections.

2024 Results for Hitters who Played Through a 2023 Injury
Name Steamer Prog Actual Difference
Alex Bregman .805 .821 .016
Alex Verdugo .717 .585 -.132
Anthony Santander .792 .565 -.227
Brandon Nimmo .766 .760 -.006
Brenton Doyle .723 .655 -.068
Brooks Lee .720 .654 -.066
Bryce Harper .890 .844 -.046
Carlos Correa .797 .734 -.063
Chas McCormick .707 .569 -.138
Christian Yelich .794 .795 .001
Cody Bellinger .764 .813 .049
Dansby Swanson .716 .717 .001
David Fry .744 .592 -.152
DJ LeMahieu .690 .674 -.016
Evan Carter .739 .728 -.011
Fernando Tatis Jr. .879 .814 -.065
Francisco Lindor .790 .811 .021
Freddie Freeman .858 .869 .011
Gleyber Torres .738 .745 .007
Heliot Ramos .742 .728 -.014
Hunter Renfroe .739 .483 -.256
J.T. Realmuto .730 .700 -.030
Jason Heyward .703 .494 -.209
Jazz Chisholm Jr. .769 .813 .044
Joey Ortiz .729 .593 -.136
Jonathan India .752 .669 -.083
Jorge Polanco .685 .821 .136
Juan Soto .963 .921 -.042
Julio Rodriguez .819 .798 -.021
Jurickson Profar .763 .787 .024
Ke’Bryan Hayes .708 .595 -.113
Ketel Marte .852 .893 .041
Kris Bryant .729 .400 -.329
Luis Arraez .769 .719 -.050
Marcus Semien .760 .669 -.091
Mark Canha .733 .537 -.196
Masataka Yoshida .785 .696 -.089
Masyn Winn .738 .673 -.065
Mauricio Dubón .688 .644 -.044
Max Kepler .728 .691 -.037
Michael Massey .733 .581 -.152
Miguel Rojas .680 .715 .035
Nick Ahmed .601 .100 -.501
Nolan Jones .723 .600 -.123
Nolan Schanuel .763 .742 -.021
Ozzie Albies .773 .671 -.102
Rafael Devers .854 .851 -.003
Sal Frelick .706 .756 .050
Shohei Ohtani .940 1.014 .074
Starling Marte .719 .745 .026
Thairo Estrada .733 .655 -.078
Trevor Larnach .754 .727 -.027
Tyler O’Neill .753 .684 -.069
Will Wagner .756 .603 -.153
Wilmer Flores .731 .686 -.045
Yandy Díaz .818 .848 .030
Average OPS Change -.063
Median OPS Change -.045
Avg Adj OPS Change -.071
Med Adj OPS Change -.053
# of Overperformers 16
# of Underperformers 40
Underperformed% 71%

Last season, the difference was less pronounced, especially after adjusting for league context. This year, the overall percentage of players down, along with the league-wide change in run environment, was the biggest hit I’ve tracked. Usually, the drop is 25 to 35 points of OPS. This year, it was around 50 points.

One item that stood out was the number of batters who missed their OPS projection by 100 points (15 or 27%). While some hitters, like Jorge Polanco, seemed to get healthy, most didn’t recover.

So here are the overall values over the years.

Historic Results from Hitters who Played Through an Injury
Stat Value
Total 393
Average OPS Change -.043
Median OPS Change -.029
Avg Adj OPS Change -.045
Med Adj OPS Change -.031
# of Overperformers 131
# of Underperformers 262
Underperformed% 66.7%
Data from 2017 to 2024

With the historic numbers out of the way, here are all the batters I could verify played through an injury. Please let me know if I missed anyone.

And that’s it for this year.





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.

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TheBabboMember since 2019
4 minutes ago

FWIW Tucker didn’t really play through the calf strain, which he suffered on Sept. 2; he did not play again before being placed on the IL on Sept. 9, and while he may not have been 100 percent when reactivated on Sept. 26 that was only for three games. He did, however, play through the hairline fracture in his right hand which happened on June 1, as he returned to the lineup June 5 and never went on the IL. There was widespread speculation that it contributed to his following slump: https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/kyle-tucker-gets-day-off-after-recent-struggles-at-plate

Last edited 1 minute ago by TheBabbo