As a consequence of plantar fasciitis in his left foot, Jonathan India was positioned on the Reds’ 10-day injured record again on July 29. The second baseman was initially hopeful that only a minimal 10-day break was all that was required to get him again onto the sphere, but now the remainder of India’s season might be in query. As supervisor David Bell and GM Nick Krall advised reporters (together with The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer), one other MRI revealed that the tear in India’s plantar fascia has gotten worse, leading to extra discomfort for India.
Extra exams and a second medical opinion is forthcoming, but for now, Bell stated India shall be shut down from operating for the subsequent two weeks. From there, India will then start a rehab interval that ought to final 10-14 days, so the second baseman will now miss a minimum of a portion of September. Bell acknowledged that this timeline represents a best-case state of affairs, and Krall described the state of affairs as “wait-and-see,” so there’s positively loads of uncertainty surrounding whether or not or not India can return earlier than the 2023 marketing campaign is over.
“My message to [India] was to take a seat out the 2 weeks after which do the whole lot we will to get you again for the tip of the season and the playoffs. There’s nonetheless lots left to shoot for to get again for, even whether it is in the direction of the tip of the season,” Bell stated.
Ominously, India stated in July that he lastly opted to go on the 10-day IL since “I can’t make this worse. If it’s worse, I’m out the entire yr.” Two weeks later, it appears as if this actual state of affairs might need occurred, if the plantar fascia tear has grow to be much more of a problem. India’s earlier try to battle via the ache was clearly having an antagonistic impact on his play, as he had hit solely .202/.287/.333 in his final 129 plate appearances previous to his IL placement.
Even with India struggling, the Reds as a complete didn’t begin to stumble till India was really gone from the energetic roster. Cincinnati is 2-8 within the month of August, going from the NL Central lead at the beginning of the month to falling into third place between the division-leading Brewers and the red-hot Cubs. An absence of pitching has been the larger difficulty than the lineup with or with out India, however the Reds will want all palms on deck on each the pitching and hitting fronts if they’re to finish this skid and get again right into a playoff place. If the Reds have fallen additional out of the race by mid-September and India nonetheless hasn’t made clear progress in his restoration, it appears fairly doable that the workforce might shut him down solely till Spring Coaching.
With so many good younger place gamers becoming a member of the workforce, the Reds technically haven’t had an issue filling in for India, as Matt McLain has performed second base, Elly De La Cruz has performed shortstop, and Spencer Steer has gotten a big portion of the time at third base. This seems to be to be the popular alignment for the remainder of the season till India is again, leaving Cincinnati much more reliant on its younger core group. Although India is simply in his third MLB season, he has rapidly grow to be a frontrunner inside the Reds’ clubhouse, so his absence creates a void even past his on-field contributions.
