Injury Notes: Walker, Vespi, Votto

The Cardinals acquired a little bit of a scare when Jordan Walker appeared to injure his shoulder whereas sliding into second base throughout yesterday’s spring contest. Nevertheless, after some examination, it looks as if Walker is ok. “I’m good. I’m tremendous. I’m going to go hit after this (assembly). …I knew it wasn’t something critical,” Walker mentioned to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Walker didn’t have an MRI and can take batting apply right this moment, per John Denton of MLB.com.

The truth that Walker is ok will certainly be welcome information to the Playing cards and their followers. Although he doesn’t flip 21 till Could, he’s one of many prime prospects within the league and is pushing for a spot on the Opening Day roster. He spent all of final yr in Double-A, hitting 19 house runs and stealing 22 bases in 119 video games at that stage. His .306/.388/.510 batting line was 28% higher than league common, by measure of wRC+.

A pure third baseman, Walker has been moved to the outfield as a result of Nolan Arenado-shaped impediment on the sizzling nook. Now Walker will probably be seeking to crack an outfield combine consisting of Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, Juan Yepez and Alec Burleson.

Another well being notes from across the league…

• Orioles left-hander Nick Vespi tells Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner that he’s scheduled to pitch tomorrow. The southpaw underwent surgical procedure to restore a hernia in January and has been held out of spring motion till now. Vespi made his MLB debut final yr and posted a 4.10 ERA over 25 appearances, placing out 25% of batters confronted, strolling 7.1% of them and getting grounders at a 42.7% clip. It’s potential that Vespi may take his sport to a different stage, as he additionally made 26 Triple-A appearances final yr with out permitting an earned run and even higher charge stats. If Vespi is again to well being, he ought to slot into the membership’s left-handed aid combine subsequent to Cionel Pérez and Keegan Akin.
• The Reds introduced their lineup for right this moment’s Spring Coaching sport and it options Joey Votto batting second and enjoying first base. This will probably be his first Cactus League sport of the yr, as he’s been working his method again from August shoulder surgical procedure. Votto spoke about his rehab in January, expressing confidence in his capability to get again to 100% well being in some unspecified time in the future, though he wasn’t certain if that will be at the beginning of spring. Although he’s missed the primary handful of spring contests, he’ll now be again on the sector with over two weeks to go till Opening Day. This will probably be Votto’s seventeenth yr for the Reds and the ultimate assured season of the $225MM extension he signed again in 2012. The 39-year-old will make $25MM this yr after which the membership has a $20MM possibility for 2024 with a $7MM buyout. Votto struggled final yr earlier than the surgical procedure, hitting .205/.319/.370 for a wRC+ of 92. However the yr prior, he launched 36 house runs and had a a lot stronger line of .266/.375/.563, 139 wRC+.