Braves outfielder Jason Heyward not held back by thumb injury

ATLANTA -- Based on his own previous experience, former Braves manager Bobby Cox said Jason Heyward might spend an entire career battling the effects of the thumb injury he suffered in May.

It's far too early to tell if that will be the case. But with the start of Spring Training three weeks away, the 21-year-old Braves outfielder still has not regained the same flexibility he had before he jammed his thumb during a headfirst slide on May 14.

"I don't have any pain in it, but I still don't have the full range of motion in it," Heyward said. "I still can't bend it anywhere close to where it was before. I don't know if I ever will be able to do that. But I know it's not holding me back from hitting."

over 1 year ago Tarkus 7 comments 0 recs |

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That's why we slide feet first kids.

by king of games on Jan 28, 2011 11:24 AM EST reply actions

Well, I guess we’ll know for sure if the Braves execs start having to park elsewhere in about 3 weeks (net or no net!).

Sandy Alderson: "There's 'no market' for Luis Castillo or Oliver Perez, even if we wanted to trade them." (All you need to know about the Mets).

by carpengui on Jan 28, 2011 11:45 AM EST reply actions

Been there, refused to buy the T-shirt.

"Life is a lot like a baseball game- you want your team to win, you want it to be a thriller, you don't want it to be called short on account of nature, and you wouldn't mind if it went into extra innings." -Dante Shepherd, survivingtheworld.net

by J-Freak on Jan 28, 2011 8:53 PM EST up reply actions

It’ll be fine those things just take forever to heal. I jammed a finger playing football in high school and it didn’t have full range of motion for over a year.

http://tarpslides-r-us.blogspot.com/

by MWhitexx on Jan 28, 2011 12:49 PM EST reply actions

Not taking any solace from Jason's "not holding me back from hitting" quote.

after last year’s “it can’t be serious because I’m on the field every day” line during an awful slump during which he refused to own up to the severity of pain until he couldn’t even grip the bat, striking out 5 times in one game during his “can’t be serious” phase.

These guys will say anything.

It’s comforting enough that he performed well eventually following the injury, but it wouldn’t surprise me if his thumb postponed his pujolsian potential a good little while, though I still expect decent production. If anybody’s got the tools and instincts to work around this, it’s probably Heyward.

by Bubdylan on Jan 30, 2011 5:18 PM EST reply actions

Could affect him his whole career. What a great idea it was to let him play for a month after the initial injury in his rookie season at age 20. Honestly, outside of any transactions, what was the worst thing Braves management has ever done besides this?

Twitter: @Ben_Duronio Stop calling Tommy Hanson "Big Red" -- This is the cause I support the most.

by BenDuronio on Jan 31, 2011 3:12 AM EST reply actions