Carlos Carrasco Experiences a Leg Injury
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco experienced a potential setback yesterday. According to Zack Meisel of The Athletic on Twitter, Carrasco experienced discomfort in his right leg yesterday while working out. The report came via the tweet shown below.
Carlos Carrasco felt right leg discomfort while working out yesterday. He was using a crutch to get around in the clubhouse today. He's undergoing testing/imaging today and won't work out with the team.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) February 20, 2020
While the setback is likely to be minor, it’s one to keep an eye on for the Cleveland Indians. If you recall, just this past week the Indians announced that right-handed starting pitcher Mike Clevinger had experienced a partial tear of the meniscus in his left knee. Following the surgery, the Indians announced that Clevinger was expected to miss between 6-8 weeks.
In the case of Carlos Carrasco, this potential setback shouldn’t require Carrasco to miss a lot of time, but this something to carefully watch. Once Carrasco has the MRI performed, there will be more information available. At that point, the Indians will be able to determine the proper prognosis moving forward. In addition, the Indians will be able to determine a timetable at that time should Carrasco require additional medical treatment.
Starting Pitching Depth Impacted
If Carlos Carrasco ends up missing time due to this, it’s going to be yet another hit in the Cleveland Indians starting rotation. One of the key selling points for the Indians has always been the starting pitching depth in the organization. However, taking Clevinger out of the starting rotation was already a loss. If the Indians lose Carrasco as well, that will be an even bigger hit.
While Carrasco isn’t viewed as one of the main components of a competitive Indians ball club, his overall role is still vital. The Indians have their eyes set on winning the American League Central this season. Although, those pursuits will not be easy considering the optimistic outlook of the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.
Both the Twins and White Sox have tightened up the landscape of the American League Central and the Indians need as much starting pitching as possible. As anyone who watches and studies the game of baseball knows, you can never have enough pitching depth. Some teams possess a lot of it such as the Cleveland Indians, but injuries such as this put a dent in that depth.
2019 Regular Season for Carlos Carrasco
The 2019 regular season was a rough one outside of that though. Carrasco put up a 5.29 ERA over 80 innings of work. In that span, Carrasco surrendered 47 earned runs and 18 home runs. However, the much bigger and more important story dealt around Carrasco’s health. Indians and baseball fans alike rejoiced when Carrasco took to a big league mound after a tough battle against leukemia.
As such, if Carrasco does experience a setback due to this injury, he will be very capable of overcoming it. Carrasco is a very positive person and has a very bright outlook on life altogether. Both of those takeaways came from Carrasco’s battle with leukemia last season. It was easy to see how much he loves life, loves playing the game of baseball, and more importantly how much he appreciated being healthy.
Adversity Rules Prime for the Cleveland Indians
Looking back at last season, the Cleveland Indians proved that they can overcome anything put in front of them. After all, besides the loss of Carlos Carrasco, the team was also without right-hander Corey Kluber for much of last season. Prior to last season, both Kluber and Carrasco were viewed as pillars in the Indians starting rotation.
However, as stated previously, the Cleveland Indians have an extraordinary amount of starting pitching depth in their organization. As such, starting pitchers such as Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale emerged. If Carrasco does indeed have to miss time, the same thing can happen here.
While it’s going to be a significant loss if Carrasco does miss time with Mike Clevinger already sidelined, other starting pitchers like right-hander Adam Plutko and left-hander Logan Allen might see their influence grow. Furthermore, the Indians number one overall prospect, right-hander Triston McKenzie should be a part of the big league club at some point this season. If McKenzie comes up and lives up to expectation, that could be a significant addition for the Indians.
Final Thoughts
Of course, nothing can be determined at this time about the extent of the severity of Carlos Carrasco’s injury. As stated previously, Carrasco still has to undergo an MRI and at that point, everyone will know more. Until then, all of this is purely speculation, but the bottom line is that if Carrasco experiences another injury, the Indians starting rotation could take another hit. If that happens, then it will be up to the team’s starting pitching depth to step up to the plate.
