Well this is fantastic news to wake up to: Dexter Fowler is gonna be OK. (UPDATE: The initial diagnosis was completely wrong, and it’s a torn ACL. Original post follows.)
Last night, the beloved former Cubs outfielder went awkwardly into second base, crumpling in a heap, and ultimately being carted off the field. It was a non-contact injury, of the type that you know what you think immediately about the guy’s knee, but you don’t want to say it out loud because it’s sad and he’s 35 and you don’t know if there would be coming back from it.
But after the Angels’ doctors gave Fowler the full once over, it turns out it was not nearly as serious as everyone feared! It was a contusion – we’ve seen that before from guys impacting the base and the jolt to the knee – and he might not even need an Injured List stint. From Angels.com:
Fowler isn’t expected to be sidelined for too long by the knee contusion and might not need to go on the IL, Angels manager Joe Maddon said in a postgame media conference.
“All systems seem pretty good,” Maddon said about Fowler. “I don’t think it’s bad, fortunately.”
The picture may become clearer on Saturday, Maddon said. The early belief is that there won’t need to be a roster move.
“I just spoke with [Fowler] in the hall,” Maddon said during Friday’s postgame media conference. “He’s actually responding very well.”
Fowler is trying to reestablish himself with the Angels after a rough time with the Cardinals. He’s not going to be the guy he was back with the Cubs, but a quality veteran bench option for Maddon? You’d love to see it this year for a fun Angels team.
Random note – it was Fowler’s efforts to get to second base on that play that set up Shohei Ohtani somehow doing this, and eventually getting the Angels the win:
Shohei Ohtani was fooled into nearly hitting a grand slam pic.twitter.com/XnyIghObpU
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) April 9, 2021