You lose some, and then you lose some. On Sunday at Oracle Park, the Mariners not only fell to the Giants 5-4, but they were forced to remove Victor Robles from the game after he injured his left shoulder making a remarkable catch on the game’s penultimate pitch. His injury is just one of a handful of notable ones suffered in the past several days.
Robles, who broke out last season after being released by the Nationals and signed by the Mariners, had played every inning of every game in right field until the injury. With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, one out, and Luis Matos on first base, Patrick Bailey fouled a drive into the right field corner. Robles sprinted 113 feet, leapt to grab the ball, and then fell over the half-height padded fence and into the netting. After extricating himself, he fell to his knees in obvious pain, rolled the ball to second baseman Ryan Bliss as Matos tagged up and reached third base, and remained on the ground. While he was tended to by Mariners head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson, Giants manager Bob Melvin challenged the catch ruling, but the call on the field was upheld. Finally, Robles was carted off the field, with Torgerson helping him to support his injured left arm.
Miles Mastrobuoni moved from third base to right field to replace Robles, but he didn’t need to for very long, because on the next pitch after play resumed, Wilmer Flores singled in Matos to send the Mariners to defeat, dropping them to 3-7. Medical personnel at Oracle Park popped Robles’ shoulder back into place, and after undergoing X-rays on-site, he was initially diagnosed with a dislocated left shoulder and placed on the 10-day injured list. The results of the follow-up MRI he underwent on Monday afternoon have yet to be announced. Unfortunately, tears of ligaments or cartilage are not uncommon with shoulder dislocations. Recall that the Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee dislocated his left shoulder and tore his left labrum while making an incredible catch last May and soon underwent season-ending surgery. Shohei Ohtani dislocated his left shoulder and tore his left labrum while attempting to steal second base during the World Series, then underwent arthroscopic surgery in November. The Baseball Prospectus Recovery Dashboard log includes position players whose absences were only a few weeks, but most of those were identified as subluxations, which is to say partial dislocations as opposed to full ones.
“I don’t know what it is because I don’t know what it is,” said Mariners general manager Justin Hollander when asked about the severity of Robles’ injury on Monday. “So my level of concern is he made one of the best, all-out, had-no-regard-for-his-body catches I’ve ever seen. And I hope that it’s not the worst-case scenario, and I hope it’s on the shorter end [rather] than the longer end. But I honestly have no idea right now, and nobody does until we get a look at the images.”
The 27-year-old Robles is hitting just .273/.283/.341 (79 wRC+) through his first 10 games, numbers that bear more resemblance to his lean years with the Nationals rather than his torrid stretch after being picked up by the Mariners last summer (.328/.393/.467, 154 wRC+) — a performance that helped net him a two-year, $9.75 million extension. Robles has hardly been alone in his struggles among Mariners hitters; the team is scoring just 3.27 runs per game and hitting just .208/.312/.347, but in the run-suppressing environment of T-Mobile Park, that still equates to a 97 wRC+. But for however long Robles is out, the Mariners will miss him.
Prior to Monday’s game against the Astros — which the Mariners won 4-3 — Seattle recalled 27-year-old outfielder Dominic Canzone from Triple-A Tacoma to take Robles’ roster spot. The lefty-swinging Canzone hit .196/.271/.381 (87 wRC+) in 67 games with the Mariners last year. Luke Raley got the start in right field on Monday, and is expected to see more time there while Rowdy Tellez and Donovan Solano share first base duties. Julio Rodríguez replaced Robles in the leadoff spot.
Unfortunately, what happened in Seattle on Monday before the Mariners-Astros game also figures in this roundup of other notable injuries.
Spencer Arrighetti, Astros
During batting practice on Monday at T-Mobile, Astros righty Spencer Arrighetti was minding his own business when he was struck on his pitching hand by a line drive while playing catch in left field. X-rays taken at the ballpark revealed that he broke his right thumb, knocking him out of action for the foreseeable future. Coming off a solid rookie season in which he posted a 4.53 ERA an 4.18 FIP in 145 innings, the 25-year-old Arrighetti held the Mets to one hit and one run over six innings in his first start on March 29. However, his ERA climbed to 5.59 after he was knocked around for five runs in 3 2/3 innings on Saturday against the Twins.
Not that there’s ever a good time for injuries, but this really isn’t a good time for the Astros. From their rotation, Cristian Javier is recovering from June 2024 Tommy John surgery and is out until the second half of this season. J.P. France is coming back from July 2024 surgery to repair a torn right shoulder capsule and is hoping to return later this year. Luis Garcia, who’s been out since May 2023 due to Tommy John surgery, was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Monday because of elbow inflammation. Amid those injuries, the unit of Arrighetti, Framber Valdez (who is sick and might have to miss his scheduled start on Tuesday), Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown, and Hayden Wesneski has put up a 4.64 ERA and 3.91 FIP.
The Astros are expected to place Arrighetti on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, and while they have yet to announce a prognosis, he could be out for at least a couple of months given that he’ll have to rebuild his pitch count after his thumb heals. As to who replaces him, 26-year-old lefty Colton Gordon is the only healthy starter on Houston’s 40-man roster who’s currently pitching for Triple-A Sugar Land. The Astros could also opt to stretch out 26-year-old righty Ryan Gusto, who’s done strong work in three relief appearances this year (1.29 ERA, 2.80 FIP in seven innings) and who made 26 starts at Sugar Land last year. Either of them, or just a bullpen game or two, could serve as a bridge to the return of Lance McCullers Jr., who hasn’t pitched in the majors since the 2022 postseason due to a series of forearm problems, which culminated in surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon last June. He’s made two rehab starts, the second of which lasted for 50 pitches at Double-A Corpus Christi on Saturday, and if all goes well, he could be back in the majors later this month.
Iván Herrera, Cardinals
After bouncing back and forth between Triple-A Memphis and the Cardinals in 2022 and ’23, Iván Herrera saw plenty of time in the majors last season while Willson Contreras was out hurt. Across his 72 games in 2024, Herrera batted .301/.372/.428 (127 wRC+) in 259 plate appearances and finished the season with 2.1 WAR. Where he was catching roughly one out of every three games behind Pedro Pagés last year after Contreras’ season-ending middle finger fracture, the roles had reversed at the start of this season; the 24-year-old Herrera started six of the team’s first eight games behind the plate, with Pagés serving as his backup and Contreras moving to first base. Herrera even clubbed three homers in a game against the Angels last Wednesday, fueling an ungodly .381/.458/1.048 (303 wRC+) slash line through his first 24 plate appearances.
Unfortunately, Herrera left the opener of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox with a bone bruise in his left knee, which buckled when he was running the bases in the third inning. This is a significant blow, as the Cardinals expect him to miss at least four weeks. The 26-year-old Pagés, who made a team-high 60 starts at catcher last year and hit .238/.281/.376 (83 wRC+), will serve as the regular during Herrera’s absence; he too is off to a strong start at the plate (.316/.316/.632, 162 wRC+ in 19 PA).
The Cardinals don’t intend to move Contreras — who has scuffled mightily thus far (.103/.186/.154) — back behind the plate, nor do they plan to promote 23-year-old Jimmy Crooks, a 50-FV prospect who placed 77th on our Top 100 list but has just five games of Triple-A experience. Instead, Yohel Pozo, an offense-minded 27-year-old catcher who hadn’t been in the majors since a 21-game stint with the Rangers in 2021, was called up from Memphis. He hit a solo homer off the Pirates’ Thomas Harrington in his first game back on Monday night.
Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
The ink was barely dry on Ketel Marte’s latest extension — a seven-year, $116.5 million deal, including his 2031 player option — when he strained his left hamstring in last Friday’s game in Washington. Batting second for the Diamondbacks, Marte ripped a four-seam fastball 106.6 mph off the wall in deep center field. The ball deflected away from center fielder Jacob Young and looked like a triple in the making for the speedy slugger. Alas, midway between first and second, Marte started limping and had to put on the brakes in obvious pain and frustration. Garrett Hampson pinch-ran for Marte and replaced him at second base.
The Diamondbacks placed Marte on the 10-day injured list on Saturday. There’s been no report specifying how long he’ll be out, and while he does have a history of hamstring strains — he missed a total of 75 days with separate injuries to both hammies in 2021 — this one isn’t believed to be severe. He’ll be eligible to return on April 15, just in time to file his tax returns. The 31-year-old Marte, who set career highs last year with 36 home runs and a 151 wRC+ (.292/.372/.560) with 6.3 WAR (matching a previous career high), was off to another hot start, batting .346/.469/.462 (168 wRC+).
To replace Marte both on the roster and in the lineup, the Diamondbacks called up Tim Tawa, an 11th-round draft pick in 2021 who turned 26 on Monday. Tawa thumped 31 homers while batting .279/.349/.519 (133 wRC+) last year in a season split between Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno, and was hitting a ridiculous .391/.462/.957 (253 wRC+) at the latter stop through his first six games this year.
Tawa is a 40-FV jack of all trades who played every position but pitcher and catcher last season. He rates as a 40-grade defender who stopped playing second base midway through last season (his last full game there was August 1); according to Eric Longenhagen, Towa has an average arm, and his best position is first base. He’s started two games and come off the bench for one, going 1-for-7, with an RBI single off Nationals lefty Mitchell Parker in his first plate appearance on Saturday. The 30-year-old Hampson, the owner of a career .240/.302/.361 (69 wRC+) slash line, started on Sunday behind Corbin Burnes, typically the most groundball-heavy of the three starters the Diamondbacks have run out since losing Marte.
Blake Snell, Dodgers
Two starts into his Dodgers tenure, Blake Snell — who signed a five-year, $182 million deal with the team in December — has been stalled by shoulder inflammation. The 32-year-old lefty felt discomfort during Sunday’s bullpen session and underwent an MRI, which showed no structural damage, but he was placed on the 15-day IL nonetheless. Though he had allowed just two earned runs in nine innings over his two starts, that tally doesn’t include the five unearned runs from his most recent turn on April 2 against the Braves. He’s walked eight batters (17.4%) while striking out just four (8.7%) and thrown a pair of wild pitches. The Blake Snell Experience, ladies and gentlemen!
Snell told the Dodgers he had been feeling residual soreness in his shoulder for the past three weeks but tried to pitch through it. He’ll meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache and may be shut down from throwing for a few days, and it’s possible that he’ll receive an injection of some kind. The hope is that he’ll miss just two starts.
Snell joins a whole rotation’s worth of Dodgers starters on the IL, including Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, and Emmet Sheehan, all of whom are recovering from various surgeries and unable to answer the call. Closer to being able to help is Tony Gonsolin, who missed all of last season due to Tommy John surgery, then began this one on the IL with back discomfort. He made his first rehab start last Thursday, throwing 35 pitches over 1 2/3 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City, but he has at least a couple more starts in store before he can join the Dodgers. Instead, 24-year-old lefty Justin Wrobleski will be called up from Oklahoma City to start in place of Snell on Tuesday against the Nationals. Wrobleski made six starts and two relief appearances for the Dodgers totaling 36 1/3 innings last year, but was cuffed for a 5.70 ERA and 6.36 FIP. He’ll likely be optioned after his start, with righty Landon Knack, who traveled with the team to the White House on Monday (don’t even get me started), likely to replace him on the roster and to figure as a starter or bulk option on Wednesday.
On the subject of injured Dodgers starters, Ohtani threw a 26-pitch bullpen on Saturday. It was his second such session since restarting his throwing program following a pause to prepare for the Dodgers’ early opener in Tokyo, and reportedly he mixed in a couple of splitters. He’s throwing one bullpen and one lighter “touch and feel” session off the mound each week. The timeline for him to return from his UCL reconstruction is sometime in May, though the Dodgers haven’t been more specific than that.
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