Luis Arraez diagnosed with Grade 1 ankle sprain, questionable for ALDS
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Twins utilityman suffered a sprained ankle in Kansas City over the weekend, putting his availability for the ALDS in question.
The Minnesota Twins received a scare over the weekend when Luis Arraez injured his ankle during Saturday’s victory over the Kansas City Royals. After colliding with Willians Astudillo on a pop-up, Arraez was down for several minutes and had to be carted off the field, making it appear that his phenomenal rookie season would come to a premature end.
While the scene had fans bracing for the worst, the Twins received good and bad news on Arraez’s ankle on Sunday afternoon. According to MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park, Arraez suffered a Grade 1 ankle sprain in the collision, which doesn’t completely rule him out for the upcoming American League Divisional Series with the New York Yankees, but also does not guarantee he’ll make the roster for the best-of-five series.
For those wondering, a Grade 1 sprain is the best possible news for Arraez as it is the least severe of ankle sprains. With that being said, it’s still a sprained ankle and will require some kind of treatment prior to Friday’s opener in the Bronx.
According to Park, the Twins will put Arraez on an aggressive time table in order to get him back at some point during the ALDS. However, the bigger question will be how quickly the range of motion will come back into Arraez’s ankle and if he can tolerate the pain with the injury.
The situation becomes even trickier when you consider the rules for postseason rosters. The Twins need to make a decision on Arraez on Friday afternoon regarding Arraez’s status for the entire series and if he’s not ready to go and on the roster, the Twins could play shorthanded with 24 players.
If Arraez does make the roster and is not able to go and/or suffers a setback during the series, things become even murkier. Should the Twins take the 22-year old off their postseason roster, they can choose a replacement, but Arraez would be ineligible to play in a potential American League Championship Series.
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No matter how you slice it, that would be a huge blow for the Twins, who would definitely miss Arraez’s team-leading .334 batting average in the lineup. If the Twins are able to manage the injury well, however, it would prevent another key cog of the Minnesota lineup from succumbing to injury.