Right-hander Dexter Fowler, Los Angeles Angels, has a torn left ACL that should end the season, the team announced Sunday.
Fowler, 35, injured himself while jumping into a second base in a power play attempt in the game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Florida. Fowler knocks Bo Bichette’s throw on the Blue Jays’ shortstop and does not move, asking him to get up uncomfortably and crumble on the ground.
The English initially diagnosed Fowler with a sprained left knee, but a follow-up MRI revealed it was much more serious. The team said Fowler is expected to need six to nine months to recover from surgery.
English manager Joe Maddon has said he plans to replace Fowler with Juan Lagares and Jose Rojas, the latter of whom is currently serving as a pioneer. Rojas started Sunday on third base in place of Anthony Rendon, who was struggling with pain in his left groin resulting from a throw Saturday.
Fowler, who left St. Louis in early February. Louis Cardinals acquired was five-for-20 with six outings to start the 2021 season and has batted 0.218 / .320 / .370 over the past three years. But Maddon, who previously managed Fowler with the Chicago Cubs, said he believes the fielder is offensively on the move and that he will miss his presence on the team.
“He’s one of the glue guys, man,” Maddon said. “He really makes a difference. He does it. You talk about it to clubmates all the time, but this guy is really one. ‘
Fowler’s injury creates an immediate opening for the two most promising young players of the Angels, Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh, who are both training on the replacement team in Tempe, Arizona, before the minor season begins. Adell struggled as a rookie last year, and Marsh has yet to play above Double-A after spending the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season to play mostly intrasquad games.
Maddon said he would point him out to the English development staff for minor leagues when Adell and Marsh are ready for the league.
‘It’s hard for me to imagine them sharpening their game [from spring training] to the point where you still want to raise them, ‘Maddon said.