In an unfortunate scene this evening at Yankee Stadium, Nationals’ corner outfielder Stone Garrett suffered a potentially serious left leg injury. Playing right field, Garrett tracked a DJ LeMahieu fly ball that cleared the fence for a home run (video provided by Talkin’ Yanks). Garrett leaped to try to pull the ball back. His cleat appeared to catch in the padding of the right field wall, and he was in obvious pain after landing.
Trainers placed Garrett’s leg in an air cast and carted him off the field. After the game, manager Dave Martinez said the club was still awaiting word on the injury’s severity (link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). Garrett underwent x-rays at Yankee Stadium and will soon head for an MRI. Martinez said the club believes the injury to be to the outfielder’s lower leg as opposed to his ankle.
Garrett, 27, has been a solid contributor for Washington this season. He made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks late last year, appearing in 26 games. He elected free agency after Arizona designated him for assignment at the start of the offseason. Garrett caught on with the Nats on a major league contract and has tallied 271 plate appearances.
The right-handed hitter owns a .269/.343/.457 line with nine home runs. He’s striking out over 30% of the time and has benefitted from a lofty .365 average on balls in play, but he’s making plenty of hard contact and walking at a quality 9.6% clip. Garrett at least looks like a potential rotational outfield option with power — particularly when holding the platoon advantage. Between his brief stint in Arizona and this year’s work, Garrett has slugged .524 with nine homers in 193 MLB plate appearances versus left-handed pitching.
This is Garrett’s first full season at the major league level. He is under club control for five-plus seasons and won’t qualify for arbitration until after the 2025 campaign at the earliest.