Blue Jays: Update on Lourdes Gurriel Jr’s injury

The red-hot middle infielder was removed from Sunday’s game with an apparent knee injury. The Blue Jays have updated us on the status of his injury.

According to the Blue Jays’ PR department on Twitter, infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. suffered a “left high ankle sprain” and a Grade 1 sprain in his left knee. Gurriel was taken for MRI’s and was seen by orthopedists and foot specialists.

The injury Gurriel sustained has a recommended recovery time of 2-6 weeks, according to the tweets. Gurriel, who was reported to be walking without a limp Tuesday, will be cautiously rehabilitated for a return to baseball action. In the meantime, utility infielder Darnell Sweeney will join the active roster, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN.

Unfortunately for Gurriel and the Blue Jays, this injury could not have come at a worse time. The 24-year-old from Cuba was in the midst of a historic stretch, notching at least two hits in 11 straight games, tying Shoeless Joe Jackson for the all-time rookie record in consecutive multi-hit games.

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Since returning to the Blue Jays, Gurriel has slashed an outstanding .423/.438/.648 with four homers and 14 RBI, scoring nine runs, striking out 10 times and walking once. With an OPS of 1.086 over that 17 game span, he’s been one of the hottest hitters in baseball since the start of the month.

On the season, he’s been worth 0.7 WAR, hitting .322/.340/.503 in 143 at-bats spread across 38 contests. Appearing primarily at shortstop, he’s shown excellent defensive range and great speed on the basepaths.

While this development is both unfortunate and unpredictable, it appears as though the Blue Jays will just have to wait this one out. Hopefully, Gurriel, who has served as a key cog in the lineup since being recalled, will return to baseball activity soon and will pick up right where he left off.

For Blue Jays fans, the hope is that this short stint on the shelf won’t hinder his performance at the plate, because a historic run like the one he was on doesn’t come along very often.