Warmer weather is right around the corner—at least for those in the Northeast—and nothing informs sports fans more of the changing of the seasons than seeing Spring Training baseball heat up in Florida and Arizona.
The 30 Major League Baseball teams have begun their exhibition games in preparation for the regular season that begins at the end of March. As is always the case, there’s always some weird stuff that goes down when these teams are working out the kinks of a long winter shelled up in the offseason.
Perhaps one of the weirdest pieces of news came out on Wednesday when it was revealed that a player on the St. Louis Cardinals sustained a knee injury after stepping on a sprinkler. Any suburban Dad has likely been in this situation, right?
You’re out back mowing the lawn when *bam* one of those pesky sprinkler heads catches your heel and you pray to god your aging knees can keep you upright. For Jordan Walker, the 22-year-old discovered the hard way what happens when you encounter one of those.
Cardinals Star Jordan Walker Injured on a Sprinkler
In his case, though, it’s a lot different than simply walking over one. He was running full speed to track down a fly ball in a game against the Washington Nationals when he ran over a sprinkler head. And unlike most of us Dads who aren’t in peak physique, Walker is also 6-foot-6, so that’s a large human collapsing down after taking one wrong step.
Fortunately, the Cardinals said there was no structural damage after he received an MRI. He does have some irritation, so it sounds like he’ll miss at least a week to recover before he makes his return. His manager, Oliver Marmol, is expecting the team will “still have time to see him in plenty of games” before Opening Day.
Walker is expected to continue being a key piece for the big league club after bouncing between the pros and the minor leagues over the last two seasons. He was a highly-touted prospect after being a first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Stepping on a sprinkler, however, doesn’t take the cake for the most random injury we’ve heard about recently involving baseball players, though. It’s definitely the most relatable. A pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dustin May, had perhaps the scariest situation when he revealed a freak incident while explaining the details as to why he missed all of last season.
It turns out the pitcher was eating salad when one stray piece of lettuce got stuck in his throat and tore his esophagus. He has since made his return this spring, but my god, how scary is that?
Weird injuries happen to the best of us, apparently.
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