Nelson Cruz Hit in Wrist During Live Batting Practice; Will Be Re-Evaluated Thursday

Today, in early Twins Spring Training News we didn’t need, Nelson Cruz was beaned by Cody Stashak, who may have been prepping for his first matchup against the Houston “Cheatin” Astros…

Uh oh. Stashak just hit Nelson Cruz with a pitch in live batting practice. Looked like it ran inside and clipped an arm. Cruz walked into the dugout to see trainer Michael Salazar.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) February 19, 2020

Here’s a snippet of #MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli from today, including an update on Nelson Cruz (wrist). @JoeSchmitKSTP will have more on the Twins on @KSTP at 6:50p and 10:20p. pic.twitter.com/2uJjysgGDc

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) February 19, 2020

If you remember, it was Nelson Cruz’ wrist that gave him and the Twins problems during last year’s monster season. It’s also an injury that we shouldn’t be surprised to see pop up again in 2020.

He whiffed on a massive swing vs the Milwaukee Brewers in August of last year and ruptured a tendon in his wrist. The outlook when he left the ballpark was grim… until a miracle happened that night as he slept.

He elected not to have offseason surgery on it and plans to play through any discomfort it might cause. Many stories were written on his wrist last year, which seems to only give him issues when he swings and misses or makes weak contact at the plate. Given he doesn’t do that very often, I guess it’s not something he is too worried about.

I don’t even know if this is the same wrist. Even if it is, I don’t know how much a bruise would affect an already-torn tendon… but I’m not a doctor, This is a bit concerning, however, because the Twins have a record recently of underselling injuries that tend to linger far past their original expiration dates.

Hopefully, Rocco isn’t blowing smoke up our asses this time and we will Nelson Cruz hitting Grapefruit League Bombs this weekend… but I’m not holding my breath.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan