Diamondbacks’ Rojas has surgery after hiding his injury? Find out more here!

Josh Rojas, fan-favorite born & raised Arizona Diamondbacks player undergoes surgery

Josh Rojas, the Arizona Diamondbacks utility player, was struggling for most of the second half of the 2021 MLB season. Yes, he was getting on base via mainly singles, but it seemed as if he had lost all power in his bat and the ability to do some damage. This is evident in the fact that from June 29th to the end of the season, he hit a whopping 1 HR. Now, Josh isn’t a power hitter, but he can hit more than one HR. From the start of the season to June 29th, he hit 10 HRs. Additionally, he only had a rather meager .367 slugging percentage. Compare this to Opening Day to June 29th where he hit at a .451 slugging percentage and it’s easy to see that something was clearly wrong.

Not once did I ever see anything about an injury for Josh nor did he ever go on the Injured List during the season. However, it’s not as if a player just stops being able to drive the ball deep for no reason. He was still getting hits and on-base as evidenced by his batting average and on-base percentage. From Opening Day to June 28th, he hit .263 and had an OBP of .335. From June 29th to the end of the season, he hit .266 and had an OBP of .349. So, he actually hit better and took more walks while struggling with an injury.

But, what injury was he struggling with? As it turns out, he had been dealing with a left AC Joint issue in his left shoulder. Apparently, it had been bothering him since the middle of the season and was a surgery that didn’t have to happen unless Josh wanted it to. According to GM Mike Hazen, the option for surgery was 50/50 but I agree with Rojas that having surgery now was the smart and prudent thing to do.

Why? Well, according to the Diamondbacks, the recovery should only be about 6 weeks. This will allow Rojas to spend all off-season building his shoulder back up rather than trying to heal it and stop further inflammation. Plus, I think the last thing anyone wants is for Rojas to just aggravate at the beginning of Spring Training or the season and have to have surgery then.

In case you forgot, David Peralta underwent surgery very similar in 2019 and came back just fine. Let’s hope the same happens for Josh! Get better soon Mr. Rojas, can’t wait to see you have a great season next year! And, maybe the Diamondbacks could have a good year too?

As Always,

May the Force be with You…