Cleveland Indians’ Josh Naylor Suffers Gruesome Injury After On-Field Collision

Josh Naylor of the Cleveland Indians suffered a gruesome injury while trying to catch a ball hit by Minnesota Twins’ Jorge Polanco. Naylor slammed into fellow teammate Ernie Clement as they tried to catch a pop fly in the fourth inning, which led to him breaking his ankle. The Indians announced that Naylor suffered a “closed” fracture and dislocation and will be out indefinitely.

“He has a big heart,” manager Terry Francona said, per ESPN. “As with a lot of 23-, 24-year-old kids, they can make some mistakes during games. But you could tell him that and he’d be, ‘OK, yes sir, I’ll try not to do that again,’ which is what you’re looking for. He just keeps playing. I’m really hopeful that going through this, that will be what gets him to the finish line and back to being a good player, is that attitude.”

Naylor spent the night at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota before returning to Ohio on Monday. He will be evaluated at the Cleveland Clinic this week, and while there is no timetable for Naylor’s return, it’s likely he could miss the rest of the season.

“You guys have heard me brag about our medical team before,” Francona said, per MLB.com. “And just watching their professionalism, because it was hard, I had to walk away a couple times. And then Minnesota’s doctor was so good. Not only was I impressed with our guys, but we were appreciative of the Twins, what they did, too.” Indians players were very upset to see Naylor go down as they have a lot of love for him.

“The way he reacted, it was heartbreaking, man,” Indians backstop René Rivera said. “It’s hard. A guy like him, a nice guy in the clubhouse, really a lot of energy, positivity and seeing him go through that was really tough. You could tell the full dugout was really in shock.”

Naylor, 24, was originally drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2015. He made his Major League Baseball debut with the San Diego Padres in 2019 and was traded to the Indians in August 2020. In his career, Naylor has hit 16 home runs and 59 RBIs with a .250 batting average in 203 games.