San Francisco Giants Injury Updates: Casilla, Romo, Cain, Etc.
The San Francisco Giants are entering day 10 of Spring Training. As each day passes, more updates on some recovering or injured Giants become readily available to fans.
Santiago Casilla faced hitters for the first time in Spring Training on Thursday, and during his live batting practice session, he got hit near his left ankle by a line drive from Casey McGehee. Casilla fell to the ground and was clearly in pain for about a minute, and he then left the field with a trainer.
Casilla got X-rays done on his leg, and thankfully for the Giants, nothing was fractured, and Casilla was diagnosed with a shin contusion.
Casilla, his teammates, and the skipper were all joking around in the clubhouse afterward, so it appears as if Casilla will be fine and that his sprits are high. Here’s what Casilla and Bruce Bochy said about the incident, according to Alex Pavlovic of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area:
"The test result allowed the Giants to keep having fun with Casilla, who was talking smack the second he took the mound and took joy in letting hitters know that he was on top of his game.“The Baseball Gods got him a little bit,” Bochy said. “He was having fun with the hitters and getting on them because they weren’t hitting him. He’s a very strong Christian. We told him about the Baseball Gods, and I think he gets it now.”Casilla smiled as he talked about getting hit.“I was talking too much on the mound,” he said, shaking his head."
The next update that came out of Giants’ Spring Training yesterday was about Sergio Romo, who came to camp with a sore shoulder. Bochy said that Romo was sent in for an X-ray too after being hit by a ball during conditioning. The good news for the Giants is that the X-ray revealed no severe damage. Romo is expected to throw a bullpen session in the next few days.
Matt Cain has also been progressing well after having right elbow surgery in August 2014. Cain threw his first bullpen session last Friday, and he said he felt great after it.
Cain threw another bullpen session on Thursday. Bochy said after the session that Cain is expected to make a start once Spring Training games begin.
A couple other minor injury updates are about Angel Pagan and Andrew Susac. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reported an update on Pagan’s health:
Pagan did not hit today. Bochy said they "backed off" on Pagan due to a stiff neck. Unrelated to back issues. Not deemed serious. #sfgiants
— Henry Schulman BLUE CHECK MARK (@hankschulman) February 26, 2015
Pagan had season-ending back surgery at the end of the 2014 regular season, and he has said recently that he’s completely pain-free right now and feeling better than he’s felt in a long time. A healthy Pagan could certainly help the reigning champions try to repeat as World Series champions in 2015.
Lastly, Susac missed his second straight workout on Thursday after having root canal a few days ago. It’s not clear when Susac is expected back at camp, but it’s assumed that he will be back at camp and at full strength soon.