May 16, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Jake Odorizzi (17) is carted off on a stretcher after suffering a leg injury during the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
MLBBy Sean Keeley on

It was a scary scene on Monday when Houston Astros starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi was stretchered off the field with an apparent leg injury. While the initial fear was that he might have torn his ACL, baseball fans heard some good news about the extent of the injury on Wednesday.

An MRI has shown that Odorizzi has “only some strains and sprains of other ligaments around the ankle/foot.” While that’s still a significant injury that will keep him out of action for a while, that’s a huge difference from a torn ACL that might have kept him out of baseball until the middle of 2023.

While this is being considered the “best-case scenario” given the injury,  the Astros don’t have a firm timeline for his return, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

The freak injury occurred at Fenway Park when Kiké Hernández hit a groundball to the right side and Odorizzi started running over to cover first base. That was when he collapsed to the ground before needing a stretcher to leave the field.

For Odorizzi, it’s the latest in a long line of injuries, though it’s only his second leg injury after a left hamstring strain in 2015. The 32-year-old took a 3-2 record and 3.38 ERA into Monday’s game.

While it’s never great to hear a player will be out for a significant time due to an injury, the alternative could have been much worse, and the MLB world reacted accordingly to the news on Wednesday.

[Houston Chronicle]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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