Unfortunately, Ed Howard’s Injury is “Significant” (UPDATE)

If you missed it earlier this week, Cubs shortstop prospect Ed Howard, the 2020 first rounder who’d just started to turn the corner at the plate the last few weeks, suffered a bad-looking injury on a play at first base.

You could tell immediately that it was bad:

https://twitter.com/CubsCentral08/status/1524206431821574144

Unfortunately, it was indeed bad:

The Cubs haven’t yet determined whether the injury is season-ending, but the fact that it’s even a possibility in early-May tells you pretty much everything you need to know about how bad it is. It’s a bad hip injury. I guess we’ll find out in time whether it requires surgery. Howard is just 20, so hopefully having youth on his side will help, even if the injury requires surgery.

The timeline for recovery is the least of the concerns at this point, though, because the (1) development disruption is happening no matter what, and (2) long-term risks associated with having a hip issue are concerning. The sport can be cruel sometimes, and you just have to hope this isn’t one of those times. But in terms of your expectations for what comes next year and beyond for Howard, I think you have to keep those in check. The possible outcomes here are probably as wide as they can be, covering great outcomes and the worst possible outcomes. If you can imagine it, then it’s probably possible – good or bad.

Howard, a Chicago native, is a high-character, hard-working player who takes well to coaching and training, so I have no doubt he’ll handle the recovery and rehab process as well as anyone could. Where he winds up on the other side of that is just going to have to remain, maddeningly, an open question for a while.

UPDATE: A little more information from NBC, with an evaluation taking place on Friday to really determine the extent of the injury:

I imagine the big question for Friday is going to be whether surgery is required (which, presumably, would end his season for sure), or whether rest and rehab is going to be enough for whatever is damaged in there. Even in that case, I don’t think anyone should go into tomorrow expecting “good” news. Fingers crossed and prayers up just the same.

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Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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