Cavan Biggio suffers elbow injury in rehab assignment

Cavan Biggio suffered an injury to his left elbow while diving for a ball in a Triple-A game on Friday, the Blue Jays told TSN’s Scott Mitchell and other reporters.  The extent of the injury isn’t yet known.  Biggio was already seven games deep into a minor league rehab assignment, after being placed on the 10-day injured list on August 3 due to back tightness.

Between that injury and an earlier IL stint due to a cervical spine ligament sprain, it perhaps isn’t surprising that Biggio has struggled to a .215/.316/.350 slash line over 290 plate appearances this season.  It’s been a tough setback for a player who had seemingly emerged as part of the Jays’ young core, as Biggio produced a 118 wRC+ over 695 PA in 2019-20.  This elbow injury could hamper Biggio’s chances of returning to the big league roster and salvaging something from this season, and it remains to be seen how he’ll fit into Toronto’s plans for 2022.

More on other injury situations from around baseball…

• The Royals placed left-hander Jake Brentz on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 21) due to left shoulder impingement syndrome.  Righty Kyle Zimmer was reinstated from the 10-day IL to take Brentz’s spot on the active roster.  Brentz’s first MLB season has been a successful one, as the southpaw has posted a 3.15 ERA and an above-average 27.4% strikeout rate over his first 54 1/3 innings in the big leagues.  The hard-throwing Brentz has drawn some buzz as a potential closer of the future for Kansas City, though he has yet to solve his career-long control issues, as Brentz has a 14.5% walk rate this season.
• Nico Hoerner left his first rehab game yesterday, though the Cubs told The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro and other reporters that Hoerner didn’t suffer a setback to his injured oblique.  While it isn’t known when Hoerner will officially get back to rehab games, he is expected to resume baseball activities this week.  2021 has been an injury-plagued season for Hoerner, who has played in only 39 games due to forearm and hamstring strains, plus this oblique strain that has kept him out of action since July 29.
• White Sox right-hander Jonathan Stiever underwent season-ending surgery to correct a lat injury, assistant GM Chris Getz told reporters (including The Athletic’s James Fegan).  Stiever is expected to be ready in time for the start of Spring Training.  Stiever has tossed 6 1/3 innings over three big league games in the last two seasons, with an ugly 14.21 ERA to show for his brief tenure in the majors.  Due to the cancelled 2020 minor league season, Stiever made the jump to the Show from high-A ball, and he has struggled to a 5.84 ERA over 74 innings for Triple-A Charlotte this season.