Despite a 2022 MLB All-Star Game that will take place close to his childhood home, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado announced that he is out of this year’s event due to a back injury he has been battling through for the last month.
This year’s All-Star festivities will take place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The event was set to be more special than Arenado’s previous six All-Star games because this one would be played not far from the place where much of his formative years were spent and where he grew his love for the game.
Unfortunately, Arenado revealed on Saturday before the Cardinals' game against the Cincinnati Reds that he will pass on the weekend celebration to address a lower-back issue that he has been playing through for quite some time.
St. Louis Cardinals Nolan Arenado says All-Star Game ‘is not really a break’
Arenado discussed the issue, via Derrick Goold and Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“It’s been a problem lately. Haven’t really had a whole lot of days off and haven’t had a whole lot of time with the stretch we have gone on and the grind we have been through. If this was earlier in the year it would probably be like a two, or three-day thing. Take off, you know what I mean? But we haven’t had the time to do that. It just doesn’t feel good. It’s been a grind for about a month now. Just trying to work through it. We have done a good job of working through it and now we are here toward the end, and it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to go, you know, be standing around, be around a bunch of people. It is not really a break. The All-Star game is awesome. I’m pretty sad about it. But I’ve got to make sure I’m ready to go in the second half.”
- Nolan Arenado stats (2022): .293/.359/.526, 18 HR, 59 RBI, 41 R
Arenado was set to be a reserve at this year’s game. He will be replaced by Atlanta Braves 3B Austin Riley. This is Arenado’s second straight All-Star honor as a member of the Cardinals roster.
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