Zach Plesac of the Cleveland Indians is off to a slow start in 2021 after a breakthrough season in 2020 in which he posted a 2.28 ERA. Plesac’s ERA in his first 10 starts is 4.14, which is decent but not impressive, and the 26-year-old allowed five runs (three earned) in just 3.2 innings in a loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. Plesac’s success, however, isn’t the biggest story surrounding the Indians this week; instead, the attention is on an injury he sustained and how it happened.
Plesac will be put on the disabled list by Cleveland manager Terry Francona due to a non-displaced fracture in his right (pitching) thumb, according to the management. That isn’t a particularly unusual injury, but Francona went into detail about how it occurred, and that is the curious part.
“He was, I think, probably rather aggressively ripping off his shirt,” Francona told reporters, via MLB.com. “He called [athletic trainer] James Quinlan, and James called me. It was pretty swollen yesterday. … As you can imagine, our wheels started to turn.”
Yes, a professional pitcher seemingly suffered a real injury while removing his shirt “rather aggressively” after a start. Plesac didn’t seem to be suffering from something serious at the time, but he was still swollen on Monday, so an X-ray was ordered. Following that, the Indians say Plesac would see a hand specialist to assess the next steps, but given the importance of a pitcher’s throwing hand, this may be a dangerous injury. Outside observers definitely wish Plesac the best of luck in his rehabilitation, but this can safely be added to the list of bizarre sports injuries in recent memory.