Rockies southpaw likely heading to injured list after suffering agonizing injury

Colorado Rockies southpaw Kyle Freeland suffered a dislocated right shoulder while making a diving attempt at a Brett Wisely bunt in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants.  Freeland was in obvious pain on the field and told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post) afterwards that “that was one of the worst feelings I’ve had, pitching-injury-wise.”  An MRI Monday will check for any further damage, but perhaps the one plus is that the dislocated shoulder quickly went back into the socket, as Freeland said X-rays were taken to examine the shoulder and rule out any broken bones.

A trip to the 15-day injured list is certainly coming for Freeland following the All-Star break and it remains to be seen how long he’ll be sidelined, though it at least helps that his pitching arm wasn’t injured.  Freeland has a 4.72 ERA and the Statcast numbers aren’t fond of his work, but perhaps his the most important statistic for the season is a team-leading 103 innings pitched.  With so many Colorado arms already lost to injury this season, Freeland’s durability had been a positive for the club. Now, the left-hander is himself looking at a substantial stint on the IL.

More from around the NL West…

• Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Drey Jameson is receiving second opinions regarding the elbow problem that saw him moved to the 60-day IL on Saturday, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Theo Mackie).  Lovullo said that “something’s going on” with Jameson’s UCL and that “there’s stuff there that needs to be thoroughly looked at before we can start to make a firm judgment” on a next course of action.  The worst-case scenario of a Tommy John surgery would keep Jameson out of action for at least 12 months and could threaten his availability for the 2024 season.  The 25-year-old hurler is one of Arizona’s more intriguing young arms and he has a 2.63 ERA working as both a starter and a reliever over 65 career MLB innings in 2022-23.
• Sticking with the Diamondbacks, Corbin Carroll’s quick emergence as a star has made the club look brilliant for taking him 16th overall in the 2019 draft and Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes about some of the factors that went into both the Snakes’ selection and why Carroll was still available in the middle of the first round.  Carroll’s relatively small size (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) and doubts about his ability to hit for power turned off some teams and since he was playing high school ball in the Pacific Northwest, there were some questions about the quality of competition he was dominating.  D’Backs assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye admitted that he didn’t think Carroll had the kind of power potential he’s shown in the majors, but “we’re not afraid to take shorter players.  [Good players] come in different sizes.  There is a difference between being short and being small.  Short and strong is good.  It’s great to be a hitter if you’re short and strong.”
• Shohei Ohtani has long been on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ radar, both when he was a high school player and when he first made the jump from NPB to the Majors.  Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times writes about the Dodgers’ interest in Ohtani, which was first hampered when the Nippon-Ham Fighters convinced him to stay in Japan by letting him be a two-way player.  When Ohtani came to the Majors, the Dodgers missed out again because the National League didn’t have the DH available, whereas the Los Angeles Angels could offer Ohtani a two-way opportunity via the designated-hitter role.  With Ohtani set for free agency this winter, there is a widespread belief among many in the game (including several anonymous agents and rival executives) that the Dodgers will end up landing Ohtani to what is expected to be a record-setting contract.