Top Minnesota Twins prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez has been playing out of his mind so far this season, something that is made even more impressive given the amount of time he's already missed.
Rodriguez has only played in 37 games but is slashing .298/.479/.621 with 1.100 OPS, and was named the Minor League Player of the Month back in April. The unfortunate caveat to the praise for E-Rod is that he is doing all these amazing things in spurts; he missed time at the end of April and started June injured as well.
Once again Rodriguez is dealing with an injury and will be forced to miss more time, further delaying what has been an incredible season of development.
Latest Emmanuel Rodriguez injury update after leaving Wednesday's game
It didn't take long for injuries to once again throw up a roadblock for Rodriguez. In his first game back on Wednesday he appeared to jam up his hand while sliding into second base.
On Friday the Wind Surge placed Rodriguez on the 7-day IL. The last thing anyone needs is for these injuries to keep stunting E-Rod's season, which is why it's likely he'll miss a little more time than just seven days to ensure the maximum amount of time for rest.
#MNTwins No. 3 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez (right thumb sprain) has been placed on the Double-A Wichita 7-day injured list.
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) June 7, 2024
He returned to the Wichita lineup on Wednesday but looked in discomfort after this slide into second base. He was later replaced. https://t.co/FIaE1LF08A pic.twitter.com/sq30hifjeF
All of this bad injury luck has been a cloud partially blocking out the sunshine of Rodriguez's season. He's played so well that he shot up Baseball America's latest Top 100 prospects list, jumping over 40 spots to land at No. 13 overall and ranks as the No. 31 overall prospect in MLB Pipeline's prospect ranking.
There was even talk among fans that Rodriguez could make the leap from Double-A to the MLB roster as a replacement for Manuel Margot, something we talked about a few weeks back with a great deal of excitement. That's been the yo-yo nature of his season, though, as every good thing seems to get chased by an injury.
Rodriguez getting shut down is less than ideal, especially given the Twins rather poor history with young players suffering injuries. He's shown so much promise and upside that there's still too much to be excited about to let another setback ruin the good vibes.