Wrist Injury Slows Joey Terdoslavich
Mar 5, 2014; Clearwater, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves left fielder Joey Terdoslavich (25) grounds out with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and drives in a run against the Philadelphia Phillies at Brighthouse Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Last Saturday Joey Terdoslavich completed one of the oddest single handed double plays I’ve ever seen and one that Freddie Freeman couldn’t have made. In the process however he sustained an injury to his wrist forcing him to miss out on valuable playing time.
The Play
They say every time you watch a baseball game you’re likely to see something new and on Saturday I did. A sharply hit ground ball to JoeyT playing first turned into a singled handed double play. Nothing unusual about that except that it happened at third.
Yadier Molina was going on contact but the ball got to Joey so quickly Molina knew he was toast so he did what a runner is supposed to do, stayed in the rundown in an attempt to allow the follow runner to get to third. Except this rundown was all Joey as he simply out ran Molina as he headed back to third. (That’s the part F5F couldn’t have done, he hasn’t out run anyone lately.)
Instead of flipping the ball to Philip Gosselin, Joey tagged Molina and seeing the follow runner – Dean Anna – attempting to slide into the back of the bag so he launched himself first to apply the tag and complete the double play.
Molina grabbed his hat in disbelief as he saw it happened while Gosselin just tried to stay out of the way. Anna walked off embarrassed at getting caught like that. When Joey got up however you could see he was in pain. Looking at the replay you can see Anna’s slide pulling Terdoslavich’s wrist backward as he slid by him causing the injury. In case you missed it you can watch Joey make the play by clicking here.
Mar 6, 2014; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves left fielder Joey Terdoslavich (25) celebrates as he scores the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Braves beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Making His Bid
In 2012 Terdoslavich had a big season at AA Pearl and had played some third base so the Braves decided to move him back to the hot corner as next in line to replace Chipper Jones. That experiment failed when he had trouble with his defense and that carried over to his work at the plate.
Last season he started slowly slashing a disappointing.237/.324/.359 in the first half of the year at Gwinnett. From July first through August 31 however he was on fire posting a .282/.355/.418 line. He stayed out as spring training began and forced himself into consideration ahead of others thought to be front runners. In his 18 games – 41 PA – he’s hitting .278/.317/.528 with a homer and 6 doubles in his 10 hits, walking 3 times and driving in 7. He did strike out 12 times – that’s 29% – but his competition doesn’t look that much better. JoeyT knows he needs to stay on the field and continue to impress to break camp with the Braves as he told Mark Bowman.
“I’m going to do everything I can to play,” Terdoslavich said. “I was [in the trainer’s room] on Sunday for seven hours. I didn’t leave, because I just kept asking what else we could do. I think it’s fine, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
That’s a Wrap
I’ve been an advocate for JoeyT all spring and I’m hoping he gets the nod over Kelly Johnson and Zoilo Almonte who have both been hot lately. in the post above Bowman seems to imply Johnson is favorite for the spot because Joey cooled off a bit lately while Johnson has heated up and he is “able to play each of the infield positions.”
I don’t have anything against Johnson except that he hasn’t hit a lick lately so I’ll continue to root for Joey and hope his wrist allow him to be back on the field on Thursday.