TORONTO – Top prospect Anthony Alford was released from Mease Dunedin Hospital after suffering a concussion but no fractures in a frightening collision with single-A Dunedin teammate Richard Urena the previous night, the Toronto Blue Jays announced Saturday.
The collision happened in the 12th inning of a 3-2 loss Friday night to St. Lucie, when Alford charged in from centre field in pursuit of Tomas Nido’s shallow pop fly, running into Urena, the shortstop.
According to a report on MILB.com, Alford remained down for about 15 minutes before he was taken off the field on a stretcher and transported to hospital, where he displayed movement in all his limbs.
Alford, widely regarded as the Blue Jays’ top prospect, suffered a ligament injury in his right knee during a collision at home in the season’s first game and has had a rough go at the plate since. In 32 games, he’s slashed .205/.277/.262 with 51 strikeouts in 122 at-bats.
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QUAD TROUBLES: Jose Bautista sat out a second straight game due to quad tightness Saturday while shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s progress from his own right quad troubles is on hold following a setback Friday.
“It’s feeling better but he’s not quite right so we’ll buy him one more day,” manager John Gibbons said of Bautista. “We’ll see (Sunday), if he needs (Sunday) as well we’ll do that. We’ve already got one our top guys, Tulo, down with a similar injury so we can’t afford anything else. But he does feel better.”
Bautista came out of Thursday’s 6-5 loss to the Orioles with the tightness, while Tulowitzki played in an extended spring training game Friday when his quad issues resurfaced.
“We’re going to let it calm down a couple days, see where he is,” said Gibbons.
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BULLPEN SHUFFLE: The Blue Jays are planning to use Jason Grilli as their primary set-up man, shifting Joe Biagini back an inning so he can be used at times for more than three outs.
The shuffle shows how much trust Grilli has earned since his May 31 acquisition from the Atlanta Braves.
“He’s going to pitch some valuable innings for us, the eighth inning,” said John Gibbons. “I’ve seen him very good and I’ve seen him good in the past, primarily on TV of course, but he’s had a great career in a vital role to baseball teams. … He knows what he’s doing. … You give a veteran guy like that a fresh start it can rejuvenate you. That’s what I’m seeing.”
