Javy Baez took a fastball off what appeared to be the very point of his left elbow tonight, and was in immediate pain, ultimately crumbling to the ground.
It looked really bad:
Javier Baez hit with a 90 mph fastball to the left elbow. Baez stayed down in pain for some time before being helped up and removed from the game. #Cubs @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/DpTmEY6leO
— Josh Frydman (@Josh_Frydman) June 18, 2018
Baez was with the trainer for a good long while before being removed from the game and replaced by Addison Russell. You can presume he’ll be getting X-rays shortly, but we might not know his ultimate prognosis for a while. Like I said, it looked bad. I can’t blame you if you’re nervous.
We’ll update if and when there’s more. The Cubs obviously have decent coverage on the roster in the infield, but you never want to lose a player like Javy Baez for any appreciable amount of time.
UPDATE: Joe Maddon told ESPN during the broadcast that he didn’t think the injury was “anything serious” – that seems to be his favorite phrase in these situations – and that he just thinks it’s going to hurt Baez through the night. Baez’s arm and hand went numb, and he couldn’t get the feeling back.
Hopefully Maddon’s right, and that it’s just a short-term painful situation as opposed to any kind of fracture.
UPDATE 2: For now, the Cubs are saying it’s a bruised elbow, but the X-ray is still coming:
Javy Báez exited with a left elbow contusion. He is likely to get an X-ray to confirm that diagnosis. pic.twitter.com/coHBmX3P62
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 18, 2018
The X-ray obviously could show something worse, but the fact that the Cubs even gave him an initial diagnosis and released it to the public before the X-ray is probably a good sign. Not to get your hopes up just yet …