Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez has hairline fracture; Dee Gordon’s status unclear

A double dose of bad news Thursday morning for the Mariners as the news was not good on Julio Rodríguez, who appeared to have suffered an injury at the end of drills Wednesday, nor Dee Gordon, who was scratched from the lineup earlier that day.

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Preliminary X-rays revealed that Rodríguez suffered a hairline fracture in his left wrist diving for a ball in right field in a baserunning drill that was run after the Mariners intrasquad game.

“We feel horrible for Julio,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said of the 19-year-old outfielder who Baseball America ranks as the Mariners’ best prospect and a top 10 overall prospect in the game. “A young player in a drill, he was going all out as we expect of our guys and unfortunately that happens. I feel really, really bad for him.”

Rodríguez was late to clear intake testing and had only arrived in camp a few days earlier. He went hitless in his first two intrasquad games as he struggled to get his timing, but he came up with his first hit, a double off the center field wall against Kendall Graveman, an hour before suffering the injury.

While Rodríguez wasn’t expected to crack the big league lineup in 2020, missing taxi squad experience is a blow.

“A young player, it’s really important for him to get some at-bats and experience but he will be out for awhile,” said Servais.

This is the second setback for Rodríguez in as many years. He missed two months early last season after getting hit by a pitch on the hand which also resulted in a hairline fracture. Servais, understanding the disappointment the young outfielder must be feeling, made it a point to reassure him following yesterday’s injury.

“I talked to him right after it happened in the training room trying to get him to stay positive,” he said. “Julio said, ‘I’ll be OK.’ Julio has got such a great attitude, he’s one of the more upbeat positive young players I have ever been around. He doesn’t get down on himself and we love that infectious smile that he brings everyday. We will be running tests the rest of the day to figure out how this gets treated and get him back as soon as we can.”

With Rodríguez not on the 40-man roster, he cannot be removed from the 60-man player pool roster due to injury without being exposed to waivers. Because of the roster rules it appears Rodríguez will remain eligible to continue to work with the taxi squad should he be cleared to return.

Gordon’s situation remains less clear. He last appeared in an intrasquad game on Monday, which was most likely a scheduled day off, and was scratched from the lineup for Wednesday’s intrasquad game. When asked about his absence, Servais was not able to go into specifics.

“I really can’t comment on the Dee Gordon issue at this point,” he said. “I will leave it at that and we will see what today brings.”

Per league and HIPPA rules, teams cannot disclose injuries or illness suffered away from the field. As this can lead to COVID-19 speculation I would caution that we have seen a number of players around baseball held out of workouts for a couple of days because of problems with the testing. No news is no news until we hear otherwise.

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