Article: Byungho Park To Have Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

[Seth Stohs]

Paul Molitor told assembled reporters at Target Field before Wednesday night's game that 1B/DH Byungho Park will have season-ending wrist surgery on Thursday morning.In a July 7th Rochester Red Wings game against Lehigh Valley, the IronPigs announcers mentioned that they overheard Red Wings personnel talking about Park's wrist injury. He had not played for a few days, and they overheard a comment that Park had been having the wrist issues most of the season.

 

He came back and had a nice stretch, but then he slumped mightily and was recently placed on the DL with the a wrist problem.

 

Mike Berardino learned that Park had spent time with Twins team doctors in the Twins Cities in the last couple of days.

 

And now the news that he is having surgery. According to the beat writer reports, he is expected to rehab for a month before heading home to Korea for the offseason.

 

According to Berardino, Park will have surgery "to repair subluxation of tendon in back of his hand.... Different area than right wrist tendinitis before."

 

This situation is a bit reminiscent of the Chris Colabello situations in 2014. Colabello was hurt early in the season and chose not to tell the Twins about it because he wanted to keep playing. Even when he was optioned to Rochester, he never used it as an excuse. Similarly, Park said nothing about his wrist injury until well after the injury happened. Likely, he wanted to play and prove himself as a big leaguer. Likely, it may have hurt his wrist even more.

 

While surgery is never a good thing, it is possible that his struggles with the bat for some long stretches may have been caused by pain in his wrist and hand.To what degree it affected his overall stat line, we can't know, but it certainly played a part.

 

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[d-mac]

Well, I hope his recovery is short. I want to see what he can do when fully healthy.

[bluechipper]

Hopefully the wrist problems were a big factor in his struggles this year. And hopefully he has a successful recovery too.

[jimbo92107]

That totally sucks, but it does explain why an otherwise pretty mature hitter was having so much trouble adjusting to changing speeds. Imagine how much strain that could put on an already hurt wrist.

 

Hope Park heals up quickly and well. Best of luck to him.

[jimmer]

Well, we HOPE that's the reason why he wasn't able hit well enough to stick. He had an OPS in the .800s this season in the minors.  His main problem was striking out as has always been his problem including where he played before we got him.

Edited August 24, 2016 by jimmer

[bird]

 

Well, we HOPE that's the reason why he wasn't able hit well enough to stick. He had an OPS in the .800s this season in the minors.  His main problem was striking out as has always been his problem including where he played before we got him.

 

Agreed. As Seth points out via Bernardino, and on tonight's pre-game, Paulie clearly said Park suffered a second and distinct injury to his hand, separate from the problem he had with his wrist. Anyone who suggests either of the two injuries caused his performance to suffer or alternatively had no impact on his performance are just guessing.

Edited August 25, 2016 by birdwatcher

[theJemmer]

I think the Twins much have a former health insurance industry worker deciding whether to send guys out for MRI's.  #rejected 

[Champuckett]

Park had a promising start to the season.  In those horrid early weeks with the 0-9 start, he was one of but a few hitters actually hitting home runs and xbh's if memory serves correctly.  Looks like the injury prevented him from furthering that trajectory.

 

Wondering if this is again a player concealing an injury or the team medical staff failing to do their job in correct diagnosis and appropriate follow up steps to recovery.

[Rosterman]

I still struggle to see where he will fit into Twins plans. Of course, that is up to the next general manager. We have Palka and Walker in the wings. We need to keep Vargas around or lose him. We can always claim Arcia the next time he goes thru waivers. We might be able to talk Ortiz out of retirement. We will resign Plouffe and move Sano to DH fulltime. Okay, problem solved. Let's move lots of bodies elsewhere.

 

I wonder what will happen to that Twins commercial featuring Park that they filmed earlier this summer.

[darin617]

Just makes you wonder why they didn't have this addressed months ago when they talked about a potential injury. Makes you hopeful for next year though. Get healthy and crush some more bombs at Target Field.

[Comrade Bork]

ESPN makes it sound like he's done for good

.

"Park, who has been in the minor leagues since late June, will undergo right wrist surgery on Thursday. Park, 30, had been dealing with an injured wrist through much of the season and it recently has worsened. The injury is to a tendon in the back of his hand, manager Paul Molitor said. He will remain in Minnesota until the end of the season before returning to South Korea. "

[darin617]

 

ESPN makes it sound like he's done for good
.
"Park, who has been in the minor leagues since late June, will undergo right wrist surgery on Thursday. Park, 30, had been dealing with an injured wrist through much of the season and it recently has worsened. The injury is to a tendon in the back of his hand, manager Paul Molitor said. He will remain in Minnesota until the end of the season before returning to South Korea. "

Where did you see this about ESPN talking about Park?

[Otto von Ballpark]

ESPN makes it sound like he's done for good

.

"Park, who has been in the minor leagues since late June, will undergo right wrist surgery on Thursday. Park, 30, had been dealing with an injured wrist through much of the season and it recently has worsened. The injury is to a tendon in the back of his hand, manager Paul Molitor said. He will remain in Minnesota until the end of the season before returning to South Korea. "

Returning to South Korea for the off season, they meant. Which has been reported elsewhere and isn't surprising -- I wouldn't expect him to winter in Minnesota!

[puckstopper1]

I was under the impressing that the English translation of "Byungho" was "Strikes Out".  I may be wrong as it may mean "hides injury".

 

All kidding aside, I also wish him a speedy recovery.He has shown flashes of a very potent bat (if the Twins can find a place for him in the lineup).

[Comrade Bork]

Where did you see this about ESPN talking about Park?

 

 

The game recap from last night.

[Doomtints]

As others had mentioned, Park had a fast start.  When he started slumping, Molitor spoke about how Park's timing seemed off, that he was a bit behind pitches.  I think nagging hand and wrist injuries would explain it.

 

Like Rosterman, I don't see how Park fits with the Twins plans, regardless of how good he ends up being.  Sano needs to be the DH unless the Twins are OK with him having a short career due to his elbow problems.  Mauer is at 1B.  The OF is finally taking shape.  There is just no room for him.

[jimmer]

Presumably he was still dealing with the nagging hand and wrist injuries in the minors, yet his OPS was 140 points higher in the minors.

 

And he's always been a strikeout machine, which seems to be his biggest problem anyway no matter where he's played.  It's just that while playing against inferior talent (Korea and the minors), he was able to overcome it more than when playing against the very best (MLB).

Edited August 25, 2016 by jimmer

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

As others had mentioned, Park had a fast start.  When he started slumping, Molitor spoke about how Park's timing seemed off, that he was a bit behind pitches.  I think nagging hand and wrist injuries would explain it.

The value behind his "fast start" was almost entirely in a handful of HR in a small sample.  There are scores of players who had a similar "fast start" in MLB and faded -- an injury is not necessary to explain such a thing at all.

[Doomtints]

 

The value behind his "fast start" was almost entirely in a handful of HR in a small sample.  There are scores of players who had a similar "fast start" in MLB and faded -- an injury is not necessary to explain such a thing at all.

 

It is certainly your prerogative to write off Park if you want to.  Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.  I was expecting him to fail immediately and he proved me wrong.  In my opinion he deserves another chance to prove himself, though perhaps not in a Twins uniform.  

[diehardtwinsfan]

Within a week of so of his demotion that wrist injury popped up, and if memory serves me right he had been dealing with it for a while. In a way, this is pretty optimistic, as Park sure looked the part early on the season. If his ineffectiveness is to be explained by injury (and based on his AAA numbers, it could very well be), then I think we have reason to be hopeful for Park next spring...

 

Now as to the real problem of Mauer/Park/Vargas for 1B/DH... well, I guess Molly will always have a nice bat off the bench.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

It is certainly your prerogative to write off Park if you want to.  Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.  I was expecting him to fail immediately and he proved me wrong.  In my opinion he deserves another chance to prove himself, though perhaps not in a Twins uniform.  

I'm not "writing him off" or saying he doesn't deserve another chance.  Just that, at worst, the injury probably just denied him a chance at making his adjustment to MLB pitching this year.  His "fast start" was not the adjustment; he still has that adjustment to make.