Does anyone have worse luck than Willie Calhoun?
After years of being yoyo-ed from Triple A to the big leagues, he was finally given the starting left field job for 2020.
Then he gets his jaw smashed by a fastball in spring training and he is going to miss, well, nothing it turns out. A pandemic happened.
The entire sport took off three months, which was enough time for Calhoun to recover.
Then, he strains a hip muscle in an inter-squad game in the summer spring training and now it appears he is once again not going to make opening day, which is just eight days from now.
According to numerous reports, Willie Calhoun had an MRI that revealed a Grade 1 strain in the right hip. Running out of the box, accelerating to catch a fly ball, breaking hard to go from first to third, those kinds of things would only make it worse. So, he need to sit.
And wait.
And watch Nick Solak take his place in the field and, more frustratingly, his at-bats.
If Solak is hitting like he’s been hitting, it’s going to be hard to take him out of the lineup.
Calhoun could be forced to sit and watch again from the bench. And that’s got to be more painful than any of the injuries he’s sustained this year so far.
Poor Willie.
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