‘It’s bizarre’: Druw Jones adds to Diamondbacks' history of prospect shoulder injuries

Diamondbacks prospect Druw Jones had surgery on Wednesday, undergoing a procedure to repair a torn posterior labrum in his left shoulder. The Diamondbacks are confident he will make a full recovery. They should know. They have a fair amount of experience in the matter.

Jones became the third high-profile Diamondbacks’ prospect to suffer a major shoulder injury in the past 15 months, following outfielder Corbin Carroll and shortstop Jordan Lawlar.

The three do not just occupy the top spots in the club’s prospect rankings, they are arguably the three players in the organization with the highest ceilings. Put another way: It could be that no players are more important to the organization’s future than the three who all happened to suffer eerily similar injuries.

General Manager Mike Hazen said the incidents have compelled the organization to take a close look at what happened and what could have been done differently in each case. Ultimately, he believes, the most likely explanation is that there is no explanation.

“I think they’re similar injuries,” Hazen said. “I’m not sure there’s a correlation outside of that.”

Added Diamondbacks farm director Josh Barfield: “There’s really no explanation for it. It’s bizarre.”

SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | INJURIES

Though all three suffered injuries to their non-throwing shoulders, they each hurt themselves in different ways. For Jones, whom the club took with the No. 2 overall selection in last month’s draft, the injury occurred on a routine swing during batting practice on his first day at the club’s spring training facility.

“It was BP like he’s probably taken a 1,000 times in his life,” Barfield said. “It wasn’t even him trying to do extra or a home run round. It was a controlled round of batting practice. If you blinked, you almost might have missed it happen.”

Carroll’s injury, which occurred in a game with High-A Hillsboro in May 2021, happened on a swing that generated a home run. His was the most serious of the three: He needed surgery not only to repair his labrum but also to address a tear in his shoulder capsule.

Lawlar, the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft, is not sure how his injury occurred. He thinks it could have happened swinging the bat, but he also dived for a ball at shortstop in the same game in rookie ball, just the second game of his professional career.

Both Carroll and Lawlar returned from their surgeries in time for the start of this season — and both quickly put the injuries behind them, destroying the levels at which they started, Carroll in Double-A Lawlar in Low-A.

Their recoveries represent the silver lining in Jones’ injury.

“When Carroll’s happened, there was a lot more alarm with regard to what exactly we were dealing with,” Hazen said. “Unfortunately, now we have a much better understanding — not one that I wanted to have — but a much better understanding of how the rehab process goes, the surgical process and what ultimately ends up happening.

“I’m pretty confident he’s going to have an expert surgery; that he’s going to dominate his rehab; and that if he follows the previous timelines he’s going to be playing at the beginning of next season. We’re not going to ultimately have lost much at all, if anything, with regard to game play.”

Hazen said the natural reaction is to wonder what, if anything, could have been handled differently with Jones. He said the team is certain it drafted a healthy player, something confirmed by the MRI Jones underwent before finalizing a contract that included an $8.19 million signing bonus.

Hazen was asked if the Diamondbacks would have drafted Jones with the second pick if it had known he was going to need this surgery. His response: “One thousand percent, yeah.”

And Jones’ injury happened in such a commonplace manner, doing something seemingly so innocuous, that Hazen wound up vocalizing it in a sort of dumbfounded way.

“He was taking batting practice,” Hazen said. “It’s almost — I don’t know what to say. You’re left sort of speechless as to how this happens. He was taking batting practice.

“Your first instinct is, ‘What did we do? What did we miss? What could we have done differently?’ Those are the things that, when you boil into what was happening, I couldn’t even think of another outcome where — it’s like, don’t let him take batting practice? That seems bizarre. Or wait 10 days until you let him take batting practice? That also seems bizarre. Make him get to a certain level of strength before he takes batting practice? You know what I mean?”

Jones’ surgery was “very similar” to the one Lawlar underwent last September, Barfield said. The club offered a timeline in the range of eight to nine months for Jones, which makes a return before the start of next year’s minor league season within reach.

“It's frustrating that you lose a few weeks of development,” Hazen said. “Obviously, excitement gets tamped down when this happens. People want to go watch the first pick go play. That part is frustrating. But I think, much like those other things, what I think it’s taught us is to have a little patience. Next spring, when it really matters and they’re out there playing, nobody remembers this gap in the playing cycle.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ‘It’s bizarre’: Druw Jones and D-Backs’ recent history with prospect shoulder surgeries