It was Nico Hoerner’s gap shot in the second inning that nearly led to a catastrophic Cardinals injury during Monday’s spring training game at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. While it was Hoerner who hit the ball, you can credit poor communication between Jordan Walker and Dylan Carlson, who collided in right-center field.
This looked absolutely brutal for the Cardinals, as Walker’s big frame took out Carlson, who did leave the game with a trainer following the nasty collision.
Early reports seem to indicate that Carlson may have injured his hand/wrist area as he braced for his fall after his legs were wiped out.
At this point, it doesn’t seem like a truly awful injury for Carlson, but that was definitely a scary scene for Cardinals fans. Not gonna lie, as Cubs fan, I had immediate Kyle Schwarber-Dexter Fowler collision flashbacks from 2016.
The Cardinals have already been dealing with a bunch of injuries this spring. St. Louis will have their top free agent addition, pitcher Sonny Gray on the injured list to begin the regular season, as well as every-day players in Lars Nootbaar, Tommy Edman and reliever Keynan Middleton.
Cardinals fans are hoping that Carlson isn’t seriously injured, but we won’t know that for a few days until he gets some tests done, either an X-ray, an MRI or both.
UPDATE
It’s a shoulder injury, but the severity is not known as of Monday afternoon.
