Kansas City Royals: Adalberto Mondesi leaves game with shoulder injury

Adalberto Mondesi had to leave Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury. The Kansas City Royals shortstop missed over a month with the same injury in July.

As if the 2019 season for the Kansas City Royals couldn’t get any worse, they saw one of their core pieces leave Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury. The Royals are on the brink of finishing with consecutive 100-loss seasons and Adalberto Mondesi already missed over a month when he dove for a ball in foul territory back in mid-July.

He made his return on September 1 and picked up where he left up. He surpassed 40 stolen bases on the season and had collected his 43rd in the top of the 1st inning after following Whit Merrifield with back-to-back singles.

The Royals were unable to produce any runs out of that situation as Jorge Soler grounded out, Hunter Dozier struck out, and Ryan McBroom grounded out to finish the inning.

In the bottom half of the 1st inning, Nelson Cruz hit a sharp ground ball to towards the hole between short and third base. Mondesi was able to get the ball, went to make the throw to first base but knew something wasn’t right. Sitting in the dirt, his glove came off and the trainers were immediate on the scene.

You can actually see the team trainer, Nick Kenney pop his shoulder back in before Mondesi walks off on his own power, visuably frustrated. He’ll likely get an MRI on the shoulder and surgery is definitely a possibility. Mondesi was able to avoid surgery when he first injured it back in July, but now you have to be concerned with his long-term health.

It’s definitely not a good way to finish off the season as he was just 2 stolen bases off the American League lead. He trailed Seattle Mariners’ Mallex Smith. We’ll have more on the Mondesi’s status in the coming days.