The repair in Salvador Perez’s thumb is akin to a seat belt, writes Anne Rogers:
Referred to as a UCL repair with internal brace augmentation, this procedure includes the surgeon repairing the UCL as they normally would but then reinforcing that repair with the placement of the tape over the ligament. SutureTape, made by Arthrex, is just over a millimeter in width, yet is incredibly strong.
The tape is anchored over the thumb ligament, essentially forming a bridge.
“Once you’re done with the regular sutures that are also secured in the hole in the bone, then you take the two suture tape tails and you bring them back over the ligament, to the metacarpal side,” Shin said. “So you anchor those tails into the bone with another anchor. If you picture it, it’s a ligament with two suture tape tails over it, acting as a seatbelt. It backs up your repair.”
Party P did something delightfully rare last night:
Here is the list of #Royals rookies with a 4-hit, 2-HR game inside his first 40 MLB games: Bo Jackson Nick Pratto https://t.co/TWCoDNRz1m
When Omaha broadcaster Jake Eisenberg read this stat on the air last night, he noted that the only thing most of us have in common with Bo Jackson is that we’ve been in Kauffman Stadium at some point. What else do you have in common with Bo?
Speaking of the Omaha broadcast: a fascinating nugget from the Storm Chasers pregame interview with catcher Freddy Fermin about his hot month of August and International League Player of the Week honors. Fermin said that the person who sat him down with video and found that his swing was too long was not any of the coaches or coordinators, but outfielder Drew Waters.
Royals Farm Report dropped a new podcast episode talking about how the newest Royals minor leaguers have played.
Also at RFR, revisiting at some numbers that jumped out to Alex Duvall back in May, including Maikel Garcia’s .407 BABIP:
Garcia’s BABIP inevitably came back to earth and it just has not mattered one bit. He moved to AAA Omaha and has the best wRC+ of his minor league career at 129 and the best ISO of his career at .268. That ISO is like…more than double his previous high. Part of that is the park he’s playing in, part of it is just a concerted effort to hit the ball hard in the air that has Garcia looking like an entirely different player. Garcia, like Gentry, cracked our top-5 for the first time this season and looks the part of the Royals every day shortstop by next June. His K/BB ratio got a little wonky at AAA, but that’s come with a ton of newfound power that’s a pretty even wash in the long run. We’ll see if he gets a shot with the big league club in September, but I love what I’ve seen from this kid this year.
One more important prospect note from the comments yesterday, about Columbia 2B Lizandro Rodriguez:
At FanGraphs, Ben Clemens tries to figure out what’s wrong with José Berríos of the Blue Jays.
Oneil Cruz throws very hard:
The double play that ended it. pic.twitter.com/ika4saCwea
The Astros placed Justin Verlander on the IL with a calf injury, but the ace expressed relief that it wasn’t worse.
Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors looks at the great season Andres Gimenez is having for the Guardians.
Brandon Belt is contemplating a season-ending surgery.
Back at FG, Dan Szymborski (Szymborski, Szymborski!) asks whether head-to-head regular season results matter in the playoffs.
LeBron James and his sons (and future teammates?) are on the cover of Sports Illustrated together.
Oh dear. That wasn’t Beyoncé at the US Open; it was Laverne Cox.
NASA is going to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid, on purpose, next month. And we can watch!
Pakistan is in trouble thanks to “the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding.”
Rachel DeLoache Williams is suing Netflix for its portrayal of her in the series Inventing Anna.
My favorite Ask a Manager letter this week was about a new employee who works from a blanket fort at the office. What would you do?
And today’s Reddit question: What’s a common etiquette rule you don’t agree with?
SOTD: Taylor Swift - Lover.
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