PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pirates star shortstop Oneil Cruz was discharged from Allegheny General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon as the Bucs provided a timeline of events, plus a little more information on his injury.
Pirates Director of Sports Medicine Todd Tomczyk said Cruz was ‘in really good spirits.’ He will remain in Pittsburgh for the first stage. He’s currently in a cast and will wear that for about two weeks before he starts limited movement.
"There's going to be a period of non-weight bearing, and that will probably last about eight weeks,” Tomczyk said. “From there, we'll continue to move him, get back the range of motion, get back the strength and ultimately the high-level baseball activities."
So, what exactly was the injury? Here are the technical terms.
"The fracture was to the lateral fibula, which is the lower part of the outside of the ankle,” Tomczyk explained. “And then he also sustained injury to the syndesmosis, which is that space between your two lower leg bones, which is the tibia and the fibula. The fracture was very nicely stabilized, and due to impact of the fracture, the syndesmosis was stretched, so that needed to be addressed and reinforced as well. That is the main reason why the projection is at four months, because of the combination of the fracture and the injury to the syndesmosis."
Tomczyk said there are a number of high-profile athletes in baseball who had a very similar injury and successfully returned. He said obstacles could happen during his rehab, but they believe if the rehab is done correctly he will be back as good as he was. He doesn’t have a concern of him returning at shortstop provided the rehab goes well.
“Dr. Greg Altman is one of the best trauma surgeons in the country,” Tomczyk said of the surgeon who worked on Cruz. “The time to allow the body to heal and the rehab that comes after, we’re very, very confident this is not going to be a long-term injury that will impact range. There’s always a possibility of that, depending on the hiccups of the rehab, but I'm very confident at this stage that those should not be obstacles that when he does come back long-term should impact him. Maybe initially, as you work back from any rehab. But not long-term.”
Tomczyk also clarified from the team release that the four-month projection is four months until he is in high-level competition. A lot of different factors will impact that decision. The goal is four months, it’s too early to give a definitive date or even a more specific timetable.