OC Register: Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy healing quickly from concussion, slowly from broken nose

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — The Angels placed Jonathan Lucroy on the seven-day Injured List on Friday, five days after the catcher was on the receiving end of a collision with the Houston Astros’ Jake Marisnick. The faded remnant of a dark bruise was still visible under Lucroy’s eye. The collision, which Lucroy said was the third of his career, looked bad but apparently could have been worse.

“Obviously I have a broken nose,” Lucroy said. “We’re going to try to get that fixed on Monday. Concussion-wise, I feel pretty good. I thought it’d be a lot worse than it was. In all honesty, the symptoms – I haven’t really had the kind of symptoms I’ve had in the past when I’ve had a real bad concussion. But I’m feeling pretty good from that angle. We’re going to keep an eye on it.”

Marisnick was suspended for two games by Major League Baseball, but he chose to appeal the suspension. He is allowed to play until he resolves the appeal with the league.

Marisnick explained his decision to slide when and where he did on his Twitter account. Lucroy said he received a text message from Marisnick on Sunday.

“I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody,” Lucroy said of Marisnick. “However, I did give him the whole lane, the whole foul territory to slide. I did tell him that in the text. As a catcher, when a play’s at home, I always try to give the runner some place to slide. That’s what the new rule says, you’re supposed to do that. If you don’t you can get called for interference and then they’ll get the run.

“We communicated, and it is what it is.”

Lucroy was concussed when his helmet was struck by a foul tip in July 2015, when he played for the Milwaukee Brewers. He did not receive medical clearance to return until late in September of that season. Ultimately, Lucroy didn’t play again until 2016.

The immediate impact of this concussion was worse. Lucroy said he blacked out after the collision and didn’t regain consciousness until he was placed on a utility cart on the field. While his concussion symptoms have subsided, the added complication of a broken nose makes it difficult to estimate a timetable for Lucroy to return.

“I don’t think it’s going to be too long,” he said. “But then again, I’m not going to put a time frame on it.”

Lucroy is batting .237 with seven homers and 30 RBIs in 73 games. The Angels activated Kevan Smith from the injured list. He and Dustin Garneau will serve as the team’s catchers while Lucroy is sidelined. Manager Brad Ausmus said the playing time between Smith and Garneau will be split evenly for now and will allow individual performance to dictate the timeshare.

Smith missed 17 games with a sprained metacarpal bone in his left hand. He also missed time earlier in the season with a concussion. Smith was hitting .296 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 27 games at the time of his most recent injury.

COZART’S SEASON ENDS

Zack Cozart was diagnosed with a torn labrum in his left shoulder and will undergo surgery Wednesday. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who operated on a complete tear in Cozart’s shoulder last year. Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Cozart’s season is over.

Penciled in as the team’s starting third baseman when the season began, Cozart’s season hardly began. In 38 games he batted .124 with no home runs and seven RBIs. He missed a total of 49 games because of injuries to his shoulder and neck.

While Cozart was optimistic that his recovery period will be quick enough to allow for a normal offseason, he acknowledged this surgery “is not necessarily going to fix that issue. I’m going in for a clean-up right now. There’s a little more going on than just that.”

“It’s pretty complicated actually,” Cozart said. “I’ve learned a lot about my anatomy in the past two months that I didn’t really care about until now. Hopefully, this works, it cleans it up, I can get my motion back, and get the strength in there and everything and start swinging.”

Coming off six solid seasons in Cincinnati, the Angels signed Cozart to a three-year, $38 million contract as a free agent prior to the 2018 season. He’s played 96 games since, batting .190 with five home runs and 25 RBIs. Cozart will become a free agent again after next season.

MINOR TRADE

The Angels swung a minor trade with the Dodgers, acquiring catcher Josh Thole and left-handed pitcher Adam McCreery for cash. McCreery joins the Angels’ 40-man roster, and Cozart was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding roster move. Both players will be assigned to minor league affiliates.

McCreery, 26, pitched one inning for the Atlanta Braves last season and was purchased by the Dodgers during the offseason. He was 2-1 with a 4.04 ERA in 30 appearances combined between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City this year with 39 strikeouts in 35⅔ innings.

Thole, 32, played 478 games in the major leagues with the Mets and Blue Jays from 2009 to 2016. He signed as a minor-league free agent with the Dodgers in January. Thole hit .245 with one home run in 47 games split between Double-A and Triple-A.

Related Articles

• Dodgers trade minor-leaguers to Angels, clear spot for A.J. Pollock
• Healing Angels look to make steep climb toward playoffs
• Angels midseason breakdown
• Angels stats at the All-Star break
• Jake Marisnick suspended 2 games following collision with Angels’ Jonathan Lucroy

“He’s maintained the bat-missing ability that we tend to value here,” Eppler said of McCreery. “We could also stand to improve our catching depth because we’ve had some adversity there. I think the Dodgers did a solid for Josh by putting him in a situation to maybe have a higher probability of at some point getting back to the big leagues this season. We were able to package that in today’s transaction.”

Triple-A catcher Jose Briceño, on the injured list with a strained right shoulder, recently began a throwing program and is not expected back soon.

ALSO

Pitcher Keynan Middleton is expected to continue his minor league rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake, Ausmus said. Middleton threw a scoreless inning in his second appearance with advanced Class-A Inland Empire on Thursday. … Pitcher JC Ramirez’s next step hasn’t been announced. The right-hander allowed seven runs in five innings Thursday with Salt Lake. … Both pitchers are recovering from Tommy John surgery.

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Matt Harvey, 2-4, 7.50 ERA) vs. Mariners (opener for LHP Wade LeBlanc, 5-2, 4.66 ERA), Saturday, 7 p.m., Fox Sports West, 830 AM

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[Blarg]

23 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

“I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody,” Lucroy said of Marisnick. “However, I did give him the whole lane, the whole foul territory to slide.

And there it is. Marisnick chose collision. 

[Lou]

16 minutes ago, Blarg said:

And there it is. Marisnick chose collision. 

Even more important, in my opinion, was this:

"I did tell him that in the text"

Good. He didn't just let him off the hook. 

[Blarg]

I'm guessing their next meeting on the field will not be cordial. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

13 hours ago, Blarg said:

And there it is. Marisnick chose collision. 

You know the result. You don’t know what he “chose.”

Lucroy also said he wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.

I talked to Lucroy about it and he agreed that Marisnick may have just been stupidly trying to over complicate the play by trying to predict what Lucroy was going to do rather than just reacting to where he was.

The reason I believe this is because it just doesn’t make sense for Marisnick to intend to hit him. This rule has now been around for 5 years or so. People just don’t plow the catcher anymore. It shouldn’t be part of anyone’s thought process. Everyone knows it’s against the rules and you’ll be called out.

If someone produced even a single instance of him ever plowing a catcher before, I’d be more inclined to believe it was his intent. But I have seen nothing. 

(Remember Manny Machado stepping on Jesus Aguilar’s foot? Lots of evidence of previous dirty plays surfaced.)

I think Marisnick just got a bad idea: “I feel like he’s about to slide to my right so I’m going to make a pre-emptive move to my left.” And Lucroy didn’t move so it didn’t work. 

He got a 2-game suspension for being stupid. If he’d intentionally run the catcher he’d have gotten much more. 

[Blarg]

As Lucroy said, I did give him the whole lane, the whole foul territory to slide. 

So which is out of character, Lucroy following protocol or Marisnick refusing to?

He got suspended, not for being stupid but for intentionally making full contact. He should have been thrown out of the game. 

 

[Jeff Fletcher]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

As Lucroy said, I did give him the whole lane, the whole foul territory to slide. 

So which is out of character, Lucroy following protocol or Marisnick refusing to?

He got suspended, not for being stupid but for intentionally making full contact. He should have been thrown out of the game. 

 

OK. Clearly you don’t understand my point at all. 

Lucroy didn’t hit pause and then turn and say “Hey, Jake, don’t worry. I’m not going to move. You can slide that way.” Lucroy knew what he was doing but Marisnick didn’t know what Lucroy was doing.

It’s one thing to say after the fact what happened. It’s another thing to act on the information you have in real time. 

Hey @Blarg, I’m thinking of a direction, right or left, which is it?

I can’t explain it any more clearly than that. If you don’t accept that, I guess we can agree to disagree. I am done. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Jeff Fletcher

[tdawg87]

Threeve!

[Troll Daddy]

Unfortunately, home plate is placed in fair territory. 

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

OK. Clearly you don’t understand my point at all. 

Lucroy didn’t hit pause and then turn and say “Hey, Jake, don’t worry. I’m not going to move. You can slide that way.” Lucroy knew what he was doing but Marisnick didn’t know what Lucroy was doing.

It’s one thing to say after the fact what happened. It’s another thing to act on the information you have in real time. 

Hey @Blarg, I’m thinking of a direction, right or left, which is it?

I can’t explain it any more clearly than that. If you don’t accept that, I guess we can agree to disagree. I am done. 

Ok, you are not accepting that the play was set up like every other play at the plate the last five years. The catcher lined up on the fair side and left the foul side open. 

At no point did Marisnick try to go to the foul side of the line on a play from the right field side.  It was not an act of stupidity, he wanted to score, he knew the play was close because he could see the play in front of him (the ball wasn't coming from over his head) and he targeted Lucroy to knock the ball loose. 

You can keep denying that was the play as it unfolded but that was the exact play. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

You can keep denying that was the play as it unfolded but that was the exact play. 

There is no dispute of what actually happened. 

Our dispute is over what his intent was. I find what he said to be believable and you don’t. 

[tdawg87]

Blarg you are one stubborn asshole. 

With all due respect, sir.

[m0nkey]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

If you don’t accept that, I guess we can agree to disagree. I am done. 

It doesn’t work that way around here sir. 

[tdawg87]

Fleshlight just pulled a flop.

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

Blarg you are one stubborn asshole. 

With all due respect, sir.

Thanks.

[Claude]

They need to add a commemorative Lucroy collision bobblehead night so Blarg will finally find some comfort. OBTW Marisnick was 0-5 in his return. 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Calzone 2

[Blarg]

Well, Marisnek and you have something in common, you've both been suspended. 

[Lou]

FACE!

[Jay]

If you haven't been suspended you aren't trying hard enough.

[Stradling]

Rack em

[Claude]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

If you haven't been suspended you aren't trying hard enough.

Well I guess Jeff and I just got uninvited to the Angelswin trade deadline pancake social.