MASH Report: Brantley’s Shoulder

• Not much injury news this past week. One note, I finished my annual review of the disabled list and it has been sent to the Hardball Times editors. Expect to see it run sometime in the next couple of weeks.

• OK, I have heard/read this statement a few times concerning Michael Brantley on his bat being affected more because it is his lead hitting shoulder.

The good news is that the injury does not involve Brantley’s left (throwing) shoulder. The bad news is that his recent surgery involved the most important shoulder for his swing. Once he is back, I don’t anticipate Brantley being used much as a DH, except in the standard way of giving him a break here and there. The fact that he’ll be out for much or all of April certainly makes adding to the outfield crucial. Cleveland is examining options for both center field and the corners.

Previously, I found short DL stints for hitters didn’t cost them production, but a longer DL stay in season 1 would cost the player ~ 20 points of OPS in season 2. Using historical Marcels, a basic wOBA equation, and the FanGraphs DL database, here is how hitters performed compared to their Marcels in a season they had a shoulder injury in their lead or back shoulder.

With the information I have, it seems like a injury to the back (normally throwing) shoulder is worse than one to the lead shoulder. It looks like the injury will cost Brantley around 20 points of wOBA production this season off his projection. If the injury had been to his throwing shoulder, the difference would have closer to 35 points.

• Devon Travis will not be in the majors playing until around early May because of shoulder surgery.

Travis had surgery to address a preexisting condition in his shoulder that involved a non-union of the acromion bone. He is expected to miss the next four to five months, which could keep him away from baseball activities until the start of April.

The condition, called Os acromiale, was discovered earlier in the season, but it was determined the issue was not related to inflammation in a similar area. Travis had two lengthy stints on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, and it eventually ended his season on July 31.

The list of hitters missing the start of the 2016 is just growing (Kang, Pujols, Brantley, etc)

• The Nationals just brought in a new training staff this offseason. The Nats General Manager Mike Rizzo went over some of the medical problems with the team in 2015.

“There are certain injuries that you can’t help,” Rizzo said. “You get hit in the wrist with a fastball. You can’t help that. Those are things that are hard to counteract. The non-contact injuries – the pulled muscles and stuff – you try to be proactive with those and put in place something that allow you to deal with those things and allow you to prevent injuries. That happens early in the season, early in spring training, even before then, early in the offseason, to gauge your workouts and prevent those injuries happening.”

Asked if he believed there wasn’t enough injury prevention before, Rizzo’s answer was telling. He pointed to the timing of injury identification and when offseason surgeries occurred.

“Last year, we came into spring training with four players … not able to participate,” Rizzo said. “Rendon had three or four at-bats the whole spring training. Span zero. Werth zero. Those are three of our key players that didn’t have any at-bats really in spring training. Ramping up there is important to getting your workouts in. Any surgeries you have to do? Get those done and start the rehab process earlier in the offseason, immediately after the season if we’re not in the playoffs like this year, and give yourself time to recuperate from that stuff so you can spend your offseason, not rehabilitating, but preparing for spring training. That’s the key.”

• Josh Hamilton had another knee surgery, but expects to be ready for the season’s start. Probably, until he gets hurt again.

Players on the DL in 2015

The Red players have had updates since the last report. Click on the “Date” for a link to go to the latest article on the player.