The pantheon of bizarre baseball injuries has a new entrant.
Cleveland Indians pitcher Zach Plesac was placed on the injured list on Tuesday after an X-ray revealed he had fractured his right thumb.
How did Plesac fracture that thumb? By “aggressively” ripping his shirt off, Cleveland manager Terry Francona told reporters.
The fateful disrobing reportedly occurred after Plesac’s start on Sunday, his second straight rough outing. Plesac lasted only 3.2 innings while giving up five runs (three earned) and striking out one in an 8-5 loss to the last-place Minnesota Twins.
Plesac will reportedly meet with a hand specialist in Ohio on Wednesday, at which point Cleveland will now more about his timetable. Plesac currently holds a 4.14 ERA in 10 starts, with 57 strikeouts and 12 walks in 58.2 innings pitched.
However silly the injury, it does leave Cleveland, currently 25-20 and second in the AL Central, in a seriously worrisome position. As The Athletic’s Ivan Maisel notes, losing Plesac means the team now needs a new starting pitcher for Wednesday, Friday and one game in Monday’s doubleheader.
Another weird MLB injury
There’s really no sport with random injuries like baseball.
Just this month, we’ve had Oakland Athletics pitcher Jesus Luzardo break his hand by bumping it against the desk while playing video games and Atlanta Braves pitcher Huascar Ynoa break his hand by punching a dugout bench.
Here is a considerable, but by no means comprehensive, list of ways baseball players have been injured in bizarre fashion:
And all of that has happened in just the last decade.
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