Winker out 2-4 weeks with wrist injury

[Lark11]

mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140722&content_id=85748372¬ebook_id=85753198&vkey=notebook_cin&c_id=cin

Prospect Winker sidelined with wrist injury

MILWAUKEE -- Double-A Pensacola left fielder Jesse Winker is expected to miss two to four weeks after injuring a tendon in his right wrist. Winker, the Reds' No. 3 prospect according to MLB.com, will not require surgery, but the wrist is immobilized.

In 21 games since being promoted from Class A Bakersfield, the left-handed-hitting Winker was batting .208 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Over 53 games in high-A ball, he batted .317/.426/.580 with 13 homers and 49 RBIs.

Winker participated in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game for Team USA on July 13 and went 1-for-2 with a double.

[redsfanman]

I can't tell, did Winker JUST suddenly hurt his wrist or has it been bothering him since he was promoted?  I suppose I'm wonder if that was a factor in his low average in AA.  I mean, his high rate of walks seems to indicate that his struggles weren't just a matter of bad judgment... maybe something was bothering him.

[kinsm]

Hurt it on the 17th.

[Yossarian]

How long before they amputate?

[redsfanman]

CTrent's recent story on Winker said that Winker was involved in a car crash before the Futures Game and his promotion to AA.  I assumed from what I read here that he was hurt in a game, but nope.  He came back and started playing with several body parts hurting, but only his wrist failed to get better, at which point the wrist injury was diagnosed.

A car accident - a freak injury.  Typical luck for the 2014 Reds.

Heck, I'll just find the article:
--------------
Car wreck likely to end Reds prospect's season
C. Trent Rosecrans, [e-mail] 7:49 p.m. EDT July 26, 2014

Despite a wrist injury that could cost him the rest of the minor-league season, Reds outfield prospect Jesse Winker is still riding the buses with his teammates at Double-A Pensacola teammates, sitting on the bench during games and trying to learn as much as possible.

"I wanted to go on the road trip, there's things to learn every day no matter what you do in the game of baseball," Winker told The Enquirer by telephone from Mississippi. "I'm here, I like being around the team. It's a lot better atmosphere being around the baseball field instead of home. I came on the road and I can at least do some one-handed drills, lower-body lifting and run -- and I get to watch baseball, too. Sitting at home would be no fun, I wouldn't like that."

Winker suffered a partially torn tendon in his right wrist in a car accident earlier this month and tried to play through it, including his appearance in the Futures Game at the All-Star Game in Minneapolis, where he was 1 for 2.

"I went (to the Futures Game) there and my whole body was sore, my knee was sore, my shoulder was sore -- and so was my hand, but I just played because I figured that's what happens in a car accident, your body is just banged up," Winker said. "I came back and then we had a scheduled off day after that and then a rainout in Jacksonville and I was swinging in Jacksonville and something just didn't feel right in my hand. I thought it was just a little sore, and everything else was feeling fine. My neck wasn't sore, my knee wasn't sore. We went and got it checked and I ended up putting a cast on it, we came back up and had an MRI and I had a partial tear of a tendon in my hand."

The good news is the injury won't require surgery and while it will most likely end his season -- the Blue Wahoos' season finishes on Sept. 1 -- Winker isn't giving up on 2014.

"Whatever the next step is, I'm hoping I can come back for the last week of the season," Winker said. "We just have to wait and see with this process, when it heals. The doctor said two-to-four weeks, so I just have to sit back and let it heal."

It's been a strange season for Winker, who is the team's top-rated position player by most accounts. The 21-year-old is hitting .287/.399/.518 with 15 home runs and 57 RBI through 74 games with high-Class A Bakersfield (53 games) and Pensacola (21 games). He not only appeared in the Futures Game, but also Carolina-California League All-Star Game, where he won the home run derby. Baseball America ranked him the No. 33 prospect in the game in its Midseason Top 50 Prospects list, calling him "one of the better pure hitters in the minors" while also touting his power potential. He also saw success in the first half with the Blaze, which won the first-half division title by eight games, going 45-25 over the first half.

Winker also missed two weeks after suffering a concussion in a losing battle against an outfield wall in Modesto.

All-in-all, it's been a strange season or the Florida native.

"You never want to be hurt, I always want to be on the field with -- but with a concussion -- you can say it's been frustrating, but the success in between with our solid season at Bakersfield and then getting promoted to Pensacola, it's been cool, too," Winker said. "You never want to be hurt, it really stinks to sit there and watch, I'm a baseball player, I want to be on the field."