Padres 3B Manny Machado Suffers Left Ankle Sprain
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado has been in the midst of an MVP-level season in 2022, hitting around .330 and is amongst the league leaders in a number of offensive categories.
Like his performance in the Covid-shortened 2020 season, everything looked to be coming together at the right time for the $300 million man.
However, on Sunday, Machado might have suffered a significant setback after what looked to be a gruesome left ankle injury as he was running through the first base bag.
The way Machado hit the bag and immediately fell down in a heap after landing on the dirt past the bag directly reminded us of when Bryce Harper injured his ankle running through first base while he was with the Washington Nationals.
Machado had to be helped off the field as he barely put any weight on his left ankle, immediately going down into the dugout tunnel on his way to the locker room.
The Padres announced on their social media account on Sunday that Machado exited the game with a left ankle sprain and that x-rays on his ankle are negative.
However long he is currently out will be a massive blow to the Padres offense, who is currently missing star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. for an extended period of time.
Machado leads San Diego in hits, home runs, RBI, average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and runs scored just to name a few.
They have plenty of firepower on this team, players like Jake Cronenworth, Luke Voit and Eric Hosmer who will hopefully step up to fill the void.
Hopefully for the Padres, Machado will miss limited time and will be back with the team in a matter of days or at most, two weeks.