MLB Lockout Affected Fernando Tatis Jr. And Other Injured Players

The San Diego Padres found out today that their star player and one of MLB‘s young studs, Fernando Tatis Jr. has a fractured wrist.

He said the injury happened in the MLB offseason, but didn’t provide too many additional details other than saying it “flared up” about a month ago.

It’s impossible not to think about the possibility of Tatis breaking his wrist in a motorcycle accident he suffered in his native Dominican Republic back in December.

At the time, it was reported as a “minor” accident, and Tatis, by all accounts, was fine.

But what if he started to suffer wrist pain at some point afterwards?

In normal circumstances, the player would report the incident and any injuries to team officials.

The Lockout Didn’t Help Injured Players

The MLB-imposed lockout, however, clearly stated that players and teams couldn’t establish any kind of communication.

What if Tatis’ broken wrist was a result of the accident?

Could it have been treated much, much earlier?

It’s impossible to know for sure without more details, but the league’s lockout surely didn’t help the communication between player and team.

“One of the repercussions of the 99-day lockout was the inability for players to speak with team doctors and training staffs: Fernando Tatis had a motorcycle accident in early December that resulted in scrapes and bruises, but he was unable to be examined by Padre officials,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted on Monday.

One of the repercussions of the 99-day lockout was the inability for players to speak with team doctors and training staffs:
Fernando Tatis had a motorcyle accident in early December that resulted in scrapes and bruises, but he was unable to be examined by Padre officials.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 14, 2022

The lockout could have affected Tatis, and we know it affected other injured players, as well, because they couldn’t even use their team’s facilities to rehab.

It was, truth be told, one of the dumbest rules of the lockout: banning players from using their team’s facilities to rehab injuries serves no purpose at all.