Oakland Athletics pitcher Jesus Luzardo is going to be unavailable to the team for the foreseeable future after he injured his hand recently. While injuries are somewhat uncommon throughout the course of a full 162-game season in baseball, it’s the way in which Luzardo hurt his hand that is proving to be quite a unique situation.
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It seems that during a recent gaming session before his planned start on May 1, Luzardo found a way to break the pinkie finger of his left hand, which is the one he pitches with. Although it’s just a hairline fracture, the incident will require Luzardo to go on Oakland’s injured list for the coming days.
As for how Luzardo broke his hand in the first place while playing a video game, well, the situation isn’t all that clear. Oakland manager Bob Melvin talked more about the situation when talking to reporters about why Luzardo would be heading to the IL. “Before the game he was playing a video game and accidentally bumped his hand on the desk as he was playing the game. He came in, was a little bit sore, training staff checked him out,” Melvin explained. “We threw him in the cage before he went out there, watched him warm up. He was comfortable pitching, the training staff was comfortable with him pitching. After the game, we got an X-ray and there was a hairline in the pinkie finger.”
Obviously, this doesn’t exactly tell us how Luzardo hurt himself. Logic indicates that he probably got mad at the game he was playing and may have slammed his hand down in frustration. While there are other possibilities in play, it’s hard to believe that Luzardo could have hurt himself in this manner if he wasn’t somehow acting in anger.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time that video games have contributed to the injury of a pitcher in MLB. All the way back in 2006, Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya had his arm become inflamed during the team’s run through the playoffs. The reason for the inflammation? Zumaya had hurt himself while playing Guitar Hero. The injury has become quite infamous over the years because of how strange it was.
Have you ever hurt yourself while playing a video game? Let me know your answer or share your general thoughts with me on this story either down in the comments or over on Twitter at @MooreMan12.
[H/T ESPN]
