Two first round picks from the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft recently suffered injuries and they're likely to significantly impact their offseason development. Pitcher Kyle Zimmer of the Kansas City Royals and outfielder Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins could miss an extended period of time.
Zimmer's injury is more of an issue. The 23-year-old right hander underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove damaged tissue in his throwing shoulder. This comes after he was shut down for the season in May with a lat injury. However, he made six appearances (five starts) in the rookie league with Idaho Falls and gave up only one earned run in 4 2/3 innings. He also surrendered five hits and four walks.
Nonetheless, those numbers were decent considering he hadn't pitched since 2013 with Class A+ Wilmington and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. With Wilmington as a 21-year-old, Zimmer logged a 4-8 record with a 4.82 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 18 starts before he was promoted to Northwest Arkansas. There he made four starts (18.2 IP) and compiled a 1.93 ERA and 0.86 WHIP, looking as if he would be on track to join the Royals' roster at some point in 2014. The team then pushed their hopes back to 2015 when he suffered the lat injury, but it now may be even longer.
Zimmer's surgery was performed by New York Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek in New York. The team described the procedure as a small debridement of his rotator cuff and labrum. It's unknown when he'll be healthy enough to return to the mound.
"It was about the best result we could have gotten out of it," assistant general manager J.J. Picollo told the Kansas City Star. "It's a clean-up. They go in and take a look at whatever they need to take a look at and through that, they determined all they needed to do was clean up some edges."
As for the Twins, their top prospect (and arguably MLB's top prospect), outfielder Byron Buxton, suffered a small fracture in his left middle finger and will miss the rest of the Arizona Fall League. This is his second significant injury of the 2014 season, with the first coming in Double-A when he collided with a fellow teammate in the outfield and suffered a serious concussion. The 20-year-old played only 30 games in Class A+ Fort Myers because of an injured left wrist before he joined Double-A for one game and then was shut down for the season.
In 2013, Buxton batted .334 with 109 runs scored, 12 home runs, 77 RBIs and 55 stolen bases as a 19-year-old in 125 games with Class A Cedar Rapids and Class A+ Fort Myers. But his offseason development will be affected because any injury to the hand usually endures a serious setback. Minnesota will likely be careful with Buxton given his already fairly extensive injury history. The 70-92 Twins could use him in the near future.
