It wasn’t long ago that New York Yankees prospect Dustin Fowler injured himself horrifically in his MLB debut. Now, he wants the White Sox to pay for it.
In news that doesn’t involve a trade, the New York Yankees have a former prospect bringing another team to court.
That’s right, Dustin Fowler is suing the Chicago White Sox as reported by Tom Schuba of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Top Yankees prospect Dustin Fowler was hurt in his very first game. Now he wants the Sox to pay up. https://t.co/QTXnQwwIis
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) December 16, 2017
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the lawsuit was filed on Friday afternoon and “claims the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority acted negligently by not securing the metal box or taking precautions to prevent players from colliding with it.”
If you recall (and how could you forget), Fowler was making his MLB debut on June 29 at the White Sox home park, Guaranteed Rate Field, when the incident occurred. Chase down a foul ball, Fowler ended up colliding with the metal electrical box and was diagnosed with an open rupture of his right patellar tendon.
Not only was the injury detrimental to Fowler’s debut (and potentially career), it was incredibly painful to watch. The emotion displayed by not only Fowler but his entire team and manager made the moment even worse.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi had a very emotional reaction to Dustin Fowler's leg injury… https://t.co/J6MkO2Be24 pic.twitter.com/yp56KUNxpS
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) June 30, 2017
About a month following his gruesome injury, Fowler was shipped off to the Oakland Athletics with fellow prospects Jorge Mateo and James Kaprielian in a trade that brought highly coveted starting pitcher Sonny Gray to the Bronx.
At first glance, a lawsuit seems extreme. But if you look at effect this had on his opportunity to break out last season and, potentially, his entire career. There is no guarantee he will be able to get back to the level he was at when he was one of the top prospects in the Yankees system.
It’s sad that it had to come to this but Fowler has a pretty good case. That electrical box was sticking out and unpadded. It could’ve happened to everyone but the freak accident had to happen to Fowler.
We’ll keep tabs on the lawsuit to see if Fowler gets what he is after. Stay tuned!
