Yankees: Gio Urshela Limps off Field After Being Hit in Groin

Yankees third baseman Go Urshela left the field grimacing before Saturday’s game.

One exhibition game into the 2020 season? Yeah, the timing seemed right for a Yankees injury.

After all, why would a single Saturday go by without an annoying piece of news, right?

Two weeks after Masahiro Tanaka was struck in the face by a Giancarlo Stanton line drive, and a week after Aroldis Chapman’s COVID-19 diagnosis became public, Yankees fans paused their celebration momentarily on Saturday when a number of beat writers tweeted about Gio Urshela sitting in foul territory, then leaving the field with a grimace.

Gio Urshela just walked off the field after (what seemed like) grimacing through my binoculars. Seemed he was being checked by longtime Yankees trainer Steve Donohue. Urshela did twist his ankle a bit during one of the intrasquad games, but stayed in the game with no issues. pic.twitter.com/96CYMfCcT6
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) July 18, 2020

Oh. Great. Nice. It’s about that time of year, isn’t it?

Speculation ran rampant immediately about Urshela’s status — of course it did, these are Yankees fans we’re talking about — though mum was the word from the press box.

Some theorized this apparent injury had to do with a twisted ankle the talented infielder suffered a few days back, but he stayed in the intrasquad game after suffering that malady, and homered on Friday night, appearing in tip top shape.

About a half hour after the video leaked, Joel Sherman had the answer for us, and it was…unsavory. Urshela had been struck in the groin area by a baseball during fielding practice, and had to sit on the ground and be attended to.

While fielding during BP, Gio Urshela was hit by a ball in the groin (no way to make that sentence twitter-proof). The #Yankees said no serious injury. He was down for a few minutes, but left the field under his own power. No official word yet if he is still playing tonight
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 18, 2020

He’s not even going to miss Saturday’s meaningless game, in fact.

Told the Urshela is still expected to play tonight. #Yankees
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 18, 2020

Instantly painful, but probably a best-case scenario here in terms of long-term impact. It’s not exhaustion or the ankle, but rather a freak accident that carried quite a bit of instant pain with it.

Urshela’s been thought of as a second base option in case DJ LeMahieu has to miss any regular season time after recovering from COVID-19, but The Machine reported to camp this week, and stayed home on Saturday to get his reps in. He believes he’ll only need the week (or so) to get into game shape, so Urshela at second base won’t be a long-term necessity.

Hopefully, the Yankees can escape Saturday without any other concerns, and can exclusively give their fans much-needed joy.

Yankees third baseman Go Urshela left the field grimacing before Saturday’s game.

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