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During Wednesday night’s game, Minnesota Twins’ catcher Ryan Doumit exited the game prematurely after reportedly suffering a concussion earlier in the week. According to a story published on minnesota.twins.mlb.com, Doumit said he initially sustained the injury when he took a foul tip off his facemask in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game against Houston. Doumit said he felt nauseous on the plane ride to Kansas City on Sunday, but didn’t think anything of it and didn’t tell anyone. He started to feel nauseous during the game on Wednesday night and was replaced by Chris Herrmann behind the plate. Following his exit, Doumit was examined by a Kansas City doctor at the ballpark, who ruled that Doumit had symptoms consistent with a concussion.
With Doumit likely to end up on the seven-day disabled list, the Twins are expected to fill his roster spot with Josh Willingham who is expected to be activated off the disabled list in time to play in the Twins’ series versus Chicago this weekend. While Doumit’s injury may not seem like a big deal to a team not positioned to contend this season, it does put more strain on manager Ron Gardenhire for the remainder of the season. Over the last few weeks, Gardenhire has been relying heavily on Doumit to catch games, in order to keep catcher Joe Mauer in the lineup when he needs a break from catching, and also play one of the corner outfield positions. With Willingham slated to come back, he would be a natural fit to pick up some slack in one of the corner outfield positions; but let us not forget, Willingham is coming off knee surgery and will likely not be 100 percent. Another thing to keep in mind is how limited defensively Willingham was before he was injured; his post-injury defense could be even more woeful.
Not having Doumit available will certainly strain Gardenhire’s flexibility with the lineup over the next few games and you will likely see more of Oswaldo Arcia and Chris Colabello playing in the outfield; but keep in mind that Doumit may be sidelined longer than seven days. Wilkin Ramirez was initially supposed to be sidelined a few days, earlier this season, with a concussion injury and has yet to return to the Twins’ lineup; hopefully, Doumit’s recovery is less strenuous and shorter in duration.
For a player who has shown signs of coming on this season, it would be nice to see Doumit finish this season strong with a clean bill of health; but as we know with concussions, things rarely go according to plan.
Brian Wille is a Minnesota Twins writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @BeeWill15 or “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
