Agent: Injured Marlins prospect ‘was not willing participant’ in knife prank
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Marlins prospect Stone Garrett “was not a willing participant” in a prank pulled by fellow prospect Josh Naylor that left him with a knife wound in his right thumb, his agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Garrett will have surgery on his thumb to repair damages after receiving three stitches in his right thumb on Sunday as a result of a “prank gone bad”, as team president Michael Hill called it.
Hill’s story went that Garrett, Miami’s No. 4 prospect and 2015 Minor League Player of the Year, shared an apartment with Naylor, the team’s first-round pick last season and current No. 2 prospect. According to Hill, Naylor was goofing around with a knife, and sliced open Garrett’s right thumb. He was placed on the disabled list.
“Naylor has a reputation of being a bit of a prankster, but this one obviously went a little too far,” Hill told the paper. “Obviously, he’s torn up about it. This is a good friend, his roommate. They came into pro ball together, so they’re good friends.”
The statement released by Reynolds Sports Management said that the two players are not, in fact, roommates, and that “the injury was not a result of horseplay of any kind.”
Garrett was placed on the 15-day disabled list shortly after the incident.
Naylor, 18, is a big lefthanded hitter who has drawn comparisons to Prince Fielder. The No. 12 pick in last year’s draft has slugged seven home runs and driven in 36 while batting .262 in the South Atlantic League.
Garrett, 20, has been in the team’s system for three years. Before his thumb injury, he was hitting .244 in 15 games for Class-A Greensboro.
– Kenny Ducey
