Guardians are taking it slow with George Valera’s wrist

You may have missed it (or fainted when it happened and collapsed in a heap and have no recollection of the event), but George Valera left Tuesday’s game against the Royals after fouling a pitch off his wrist. The wrist of the same hand that he had surgery on in 2018 and last offseason.

It was obviously a scary situation — as any foul ball of the hand is — and the Guardians aren’t in any hurry to get an MRI and push Valera during spring training.

From MLB.com’s reporting:

“That was the wrist that had the surgery,” said Francona. “So, they don’t really know if that’s part of it. It’s hard to imagine that somehow not affecting it. [The team’s medical staff is] going to give him a couple of days to see how it reacts to them treating it. And then, if it’s getting better, good. If not, then they will look into maybe getting an image. But they don’t want to rush into that.”

This season could be a turning point for Valera, as he looks to push back against concerns about his plate approach and strikeout issues potentially slowing his MLB development. The first step of that is getting healthy.

Guardians 9, White Sox 6

Box Score
Gabriel Arias recorded two hits in the unaired game yesterday, pushing his spring average to .500 and hype levels to maximum. Aaron Civale turned in a mostly clean inning, with a walk and no other baserunners.

Today’s baseball: Guardians vs. Giants, 3:05 p.m. ET. (no broadcast)

Cleveland Guardians news

Guardians shut down lefty Sam Hentges with swelling in shoulder | Cleveland
If you thought the Guardians seemed a little too healthy last year, don’t worry — the baseball gods have cometh. Sam Hentges is the latest to suffer a spring training injury. He’ll be sidelined with shoulder inflammation that will be evaluated on a “week-to-week” basis. In other words, a while.

Guardians’ Bo Naylor listed at +3000 in A.L. Rookie of the Year odds; what to expect from rookie catcher | Cleveland
Bo Naylor probably isn’t going to win Rookie of the Year, but you can bet on him taking over the catcher position in Cleveland sometime this season.

Around the league

• Andrew Painter hit 99 mph in his spring debut.
• Jurickson Profar will play in the WBC.
• Tyler Glasnow and Joe Musgrove are both injured.
• The Padres are signing Roughned Odor.
• Cole Hamels is fulfilling a dream in San Diego.
• The Mariners need more from J.P. Crawford.
• The Mets don’t want Edwin Diaz pitching on back-to-back days in WBC.