The Bradenton Marauders have placed right-handed pitcher Gage Hinsz on the disabled list with a scapular stress fracture on his right side. It’s a very rare injury in baseball players, but it’s not considered a long-term injury. One of the most recent cases involving an MLB player is Michael Wacha, who was placed on the DL with the same injury after his start on June 17, 2014. He was able to return to action in the minors on August 31st that year and rejoined the Cardinals four days later. Matt Harvey and Brandon McCarthy have also had the injury.
This will obviously end the season for Hinsz and the Fall Instructional League wouldn’t be an option to make up innings. He has dealt with shoulder issues of and on this season, so this might be the particular injury which has caused him to miss some time and skip a few starts during the year.
The 21-year-old Hinsz finishes with a 5.61 ERA over 94.2 innings, but you could almost throw those stats out the window, since he has been hurting off and on since early May. His two starts prior to the injury consisted of one run over six innings on April 27th and one run over seven innings on May 2nd. Hinsz didn’t pitch again until 11 days later and struggled in his return game.
After spending the first two weeks of August on the disabled list, he pitched last Monday and was throwing just 91-92 MPH, well off the 94-96 MPH he normally sits. That start ended after a visit from the trainer in the second inning and he has not thrown a ball since.
