Minnesota's Superstars Are Done "Being Superman" With Injuries

Rocco Baldelli said that Carlos Correa spent last season “biting his lip” in pain after playing through plantar fasciitis. The Minnesota Twins encouraged him to sit out some games and recover. However, he had just signed a six-year, $200 million extension and didn’t want to miss time immediately.

Correa still played sound defense at shortstop while injured, but he hit .230/.312/.399, below his .275/.353/.472 career average. However, Correa entered this season healthy and hit .308/.377/.520 before the All-Star Break. He made his third All-Star team, first with Minnesota, but didn’t play in the game because he got plantar fasciitis in his other foot.

Instead of playing through pain this year, Correa went on the 10-day injured list.

“Looking back at last year, that was one thing that I would like to take back,” Correa said on Monday. “Just take some time off, and if I'd gone this route, things would have been better, especially with how early it happened in the year. It was in May. But this one, with the break here and having those days, taking the shot, hopefully, it heals right in time for me to finish the last couple of months.”

Similarly, Royce Lewis says that he is being careful with his latest injury. After tearing his ACL twice and injuring his quad rounding third base on opening day, Lewis was excited to return to the field in early June. However, he injured his adductor on July 2 and returned to the injured list.

Fortunately, it was only a Grade 2 because he didn’t try to play through it, and he will begin his rehab assignment in St. Paul on Tuesday.

“I caught it early,” he said on Monday. “I know they said Grade 2 or whatever it was, but that was me catching it early. Normally, that’s something where I feel that tightness and I don’t say anything. Then I just keep playing and it turns into a high Grade 2 or a 3, or whatever that is, and then you are out for months. I think the goal, ultimately, is learning I don’t have to be Superman and play through every single thing.”

The Twins have a history of players failing to report injuries, only to join the injured list after their production drops and they’ve hurt the team.

Last year, Joe Ryan was coming off pitching a complete game against the Boston Red Sox and had a 2.98 ERA entering a late June start in Atlanta. Ryan pulled his hamstring before the Atlanta Braves game and gave up six runs in three innings. However, he didn’t tell the team about his injury until early August.

Ryan had an 8.63 ERA in his seven starts between June 27 and August 4.

"I was trying to do it on my own," Ryan said. "Didn't probably take the best routes to notifying everyone. I just tried to work through some stuff for a while. Thought I was getting there, and it just kept bugging me."

"The communication on this certainly has to be better,” Baldelli said, noting that he and the training staff have daily check-ins with players, “and he knows that.”

Jose Miranda hit .268/.325/.426 as a rookie and looked like he was cementing himself as part of Minnesota’s young core. However, he suffered a shoulder injury in spring training last year and tried to play through it. He hit .211/.263/.303 in 40 games and spent most of the season in the minors. Miranda entered spring training feeling confident, even though there wasn’t an obvious roster spot for him.

“You want to put the work in and get healthy,” Miranda said during spring training this season. “And I think I got to the point that I'm healthy right now. And I just think if I'm healthy, things are gonna come my way, the way they're supposed to be.”

Miranda got his shoulder cleaned up in the offseason, and he’s hitting .325/.366/.522. He had a hit in 12 straight at-bats, tying a major-league record that goes back to the 1950s. A year after he looked like he was playing his way out of Minnesota’s plans, Miranda is delivering on his promise as one of its top prospects.

Still, the Twins have had some issues with players hiding injuries this season. Alex Kirilloff got off to a torrid start this season, hitting .324/.385/.647 in his first ten games and .256/.315/.493. However, Minnesota suspected something was wrong when he hit .161/.238/.375 in May and .095/.174/.191 in June.

They optioned him to Triple-A in mid-June, only to rescind the option and place him on the major-league injured list once he informed them that he had a back issue.

“The communication on that, if that was something that was worsening and he was unable to play, does need to be better and something he needs to be able to bring up and say,” Baldelli said. “He had the opportunity to do it. Hopefully, we can do that better next time.”

“It's kind of hard to say something when you want to be out there every day,” Kirilloff said. “But at the same time, things need to be communicated at a high level here, especially when we're all trying to compete to win a championship. So I just need to do a better job of communicating how I'm feeling and what's going on with that process so that something like this doesn't happen again.”

Every player plays through minor ailments throughout the season, and nobody wants to miss time. Everyone feels they can contribute to winning, but they harm the team by hiding injuries and performing poorly. The Twins are deep at almost every position, so they don’t need players to play hurt, and they need their stars to be at their best to avoid worsening their injuries.

Even in situations like Correa’s, where he could play through pain, he’s wise to heal so he can hit like an All-Star.

"I'm always down to do whatever's best for the team,” he said. “Like I said, we had a lot to learn from last year and the left foot when it happened. We don't want to make the same mistake and play through it. So, going on the IL is what's best for the team. And then get healthy and finish strong."

Not all of Minnesota’s players have been forthcoming with their injuries. But hopefully, they can learn from Correa and Lewis’ example because gutting it out when they can’t drive winning hurts the player and the team. People don’t glorify players when they handle their injuries responsibly, but not all heroes wear capes.