The Minnesota Twins were on the wrong end of a 3-2 final on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers. But more concerning than the loss is the health of Minnesota pitcher, José De León.
De León came on to pitch with one on and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning — but never threw a pitch in the game.
When De León was warming up on the mound, he threw a pitch and immediately knew that something was wrong. He initially grabbed at his throwing elbow. De León continued to run toward the Minnesota dugout with his right arm hanging low. He eventually stopped and hunched over. At that point, he was met by Twins manager Rocco Baldelli as well as the trainer. Shortstop Carlos Correa also came in to help.
Baseball fans expressed their concern about the injury.
:/ that looked awful https://t.co/Z2wcX6Xbak
— Negro Leagues Larry David (@tangible_uno) June 25, 2023
I thought about Joel Zumaya right away. https://t.co/I1lO8AbtRZ
— @bfsesq.bsky.social (@BFSEsq) June 25, 2023
He’s leaning mannnn smh https://t.co/Lnqs520lOH
— Vic Damone Jr (@wholesomefoxx) June 25, 2023
The Twins, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com, announced after the game that De León had “right elbow soreness.”
While the obvious hope is that it’s something mild, injuries like that unfortunately rarely are.
Sights like this trigger memories of the past — and none of them are good. Pitchers like Dave Dravecky, Tony Saunders and Joel Zumaya have all had similar moments, throwing a pitch and then either running immediately off of the field or falling to the ground in pain.
De León has pitched 17.1 outings this year over 12 games. He’s posted a 4.67 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and struck out 17 hitters.
[Do-Hyoung Park, Photo Credit: Fox]