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Alex Reyes for shoulder surgery

Oath of the Cardinals Alex Reyes He is staring at another injury-related relapse and is due to have surgery on his shoulder later this month. Tweets Katie Wu from The Athletic. MLB.com’s John Denton first reported that Reyes will need surgery to repair his right shoulder (Twitter-Link).

Reyes met with renowned surgeon Dr. Neil Al-Atrash and confirmed the team’s recommendation that surgery was required. The cardinals did not disclose the exact nature of the procedure. Wu adds that while the surgery will likely end his season, there’s at least a slim chance Reyes can return later in the year.

It will be Reyes’ third major operation in the last five years. Right underwent surgery again by Tommy John during spring 2019 training and has since undergone surgery to repair a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi. Reyes also missed some time in 2020 with a shoulder problem, although he did not require surgery at the time.

The expected shoulder move is thus the latest in a long line of physical ailments that have combined to disrupt one of the sport’s most promising young talents. Billed as a potential ace for years, Reyes visited the highest potential ranks throughout the minor league run. Heading into the 2017 season, Baseball Prospectus ranked it #1 in all of baseball, while Baseball America ranked it fourth and MLB.com sixth.

At the time, Reyes was struggling to hold on to his junior and expected status after his MLB debut in 2016, when he played 46 rounds with 1.57 ERA balls. However, Reyes underwent surgery for Tommy John before he had a chance to follow up on that debut. That surgery, combined with the aforementioned shoulder and streak issues, has limited Reyes to just 87 rounds from 2017-2020 (the big and small leagues combined). He made 72 1/3 high-profile runs in 2021 with the Cardinals, who all came as rescuers, and they led the team with 29 saves. Reyes knocked out over 30% of his opponents but also posted untenable walking clips at 16.4%.

The hope heading into the 2022 season was that Reyes would like him Jordan HicksIt can either expand to serve as a launch again, or to provide a multi-reel option in heavily leveraged positions. However, this latest bout of the shoulder problem eliminated that possibility before it really started. Now, Reyes’ future in the organization could be in question.

At 27 (August 28), Reyes has just 145 major league runs under his belt. Despite that paltry total, he’ll still play up to five years in the major leagues this season, largely due to the considerable time he’s been on the major league injury list. It will likely add another full season of IL time to that ledger. The Cards will be able to keep him through arbitration this winter, and given that he’s unlikely to move up at all, he’ll likely be in line to repeat this year’s $2.9 million salary. It’s a modest total, but the cards have yet to decide whether to honor that commitment for a player who’s averaged 29 rounds a year during MLB’s first five campaigns.

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