Good, Bad A's Injury News
With Wednesday's doubleheader came a plethora of injury updates before the Oakland A's head out on the road. In a press release, the team announced that shortstop Darell Hernaiz was placed on the IL with a left ankle sprain after being lifted from Tuesday's game. Hernaiz was attempting to leg out a single on the infield, and took one long stride to reach the bag. As he landed, his leg was fully straight and he fell end over end and was on the ground for a few minutes following the play. He was immediately removed from the game, but was able to walk off under his own power.
The team also optioned lefty Hogan Harris, who was brought up for the Rangers series to provide innings with the team playing four games in three days. Harris was used on Tuesday after Ross Stripling lasted just five outs, and tallied 5 1/3 innings in relief. He wouldn't be available for Wednesday's doubleheader, so he was sent back to Las Vegas.
The corresponding moves that were made were bringing up Tyler Soderstrom, who could be seeing some time at first base in this stint, and lefty Easton Lucas.
Soderstrom was batting .245 with seven home runs, 19 RBI and an .882 OPS in 27 games with Las Vegas, while Lucas, acquired last season in exchange for Shintaro Fujinami, was 2-0 with a 2.87 ERA and .699 opponents OPS in 11 games, including one start, with Las Vegas.
Martín Gallegos reported on Wednesday that both Zack Gelof and Aledmys Díaz would be joining the Las Vegas roster this weekend to begin their rehab assignments. Gelof is currently eligible to be activated from the IL, but Díaz, since he's on the 60-day IL, has to wait until at least May 27.
It was also reported that Ken Waldichuk has an appointment to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday, which obviously isn't a good sign. He'd been ramping up activity for the past few weeks, tossing 20-30 pitches every few days, but was recently shut down from that activity.
In early December it was announced that Waldichuk had received a diagnosis of a flexor tendon strain and UCL ligament sprain. Waldichuk opted for conservative treatment of this injury, leading to a Tenex procedure with Dr. Steve Yoon on Oct. 17 and a follow-up PRP injection to the flexor tendon on Oct. 24.
With another meeting with Dr. ElAttrache looming, it would appear as though the conservative treatment didn't work, unfortunately. The next step could end up being Tommy John. We'll know more on Monday.
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.