Reds’ Devin Mesoraco to have season-ending hip surgery
If the Cincinnati Reds are going to climb back into the playoff picture in the National League, they’re going to have to do it without Devin Mesoraco.
Mesoraco is set to have season-ending surgery at the end of June on the left hip injury that has been holding him back since early April.
The Reds’ handling of Mesoraco this season was puzzling to say the least. Coming off a breakout 2014 where he hit .273/.359/.534 with 25 home runs in 114 games and received his first All-Star nod much was expected of Mesoraco for an encore, but his season never really got off the ground.
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Mesoraco was unable to catch because of the injury — he hadn’t started behind the plate since April 12 — but for whatever reason the Reds kept Mesoraco on the active roster through May 25.
With a return to catching out of the question because of the persistent hip pain after finally going on the DL, Cincinnati wanted to see if Mesoraco could make a comeback in the outfield. When he was hurt again playing left field during a recent rehab stint with Triple-A Louisville, the decision was mercifully made to go ahead with the surgery.
“I think after I got hurt in Louisville, it was just a matter of time — we’ve tried this, we’ve tried that,” Mesoraco said. “At this timetable, the way things will play out for me to be 100 percent going into next year, this was the time to get it done. After that didn’t work, we just finalized the details.”
In the end, Mesoraco was limited to just 23 games and 45 at-bats and his offensive numbers suffered as he hit just .178 with a .275 OBP and didn’t hit a home run.
Hopefully the worst is now behind him and Mesoraco is good to go for 2016. If he’s not, the Reds only have themselves to blame.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
