Down another starting fielder, Tigers know injuries will be part of their story

Will Taylor is out until late May, says head coach Erik Bakich.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Apr 20 07:00:03 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Injuries are going to be part of Clemson’s story this season.

Friday starter Tristan Smith returned from injury on Friday and pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up four runs in Clemson’s 6-4 victory over Pitt. However, just one of those runs was earned. But Smith wasn’t the big story, as the Tigers are dealing with more injury news after it was announced last week that starting shortstop Andrew Ciufo is out for the season.

Head coach Erik Bakich confirmed following Friday’s game that Will Taylor, who injured his wrist when he slid into the fence chasing a foul ball Sunday, will be out for about a month.

“He’s had his wrist looked at a couple of times now, and there's a bunch of small bones in the wrist, and he fractured one of them, and he'll have a procedure next week, Tuesday, and he'll be out a few weeks,” Bakich said. “He may be back in late May or something like that, but he'll be out for probably a good four weeks while he's rehabbing that. But we just had that confirmed, and it's a big loss. Obviously, he's a dynamic player and incredible athlete, but it's a different situation than Andrew Ciufo because Willie T will be able to be back and help us, especially as we kind of get into conference tournament postseason and regionals.”

Bakich said Taylor hurt his wrist while doing what he does best – hustling.

“There's a left-handed hitter who had hit it to the fence the AB (at-bat) before and so that left-handed hitter was up again with a runner on first,” he said. “And I moved him back, so I wish I wouldn't have done that. But that is Willie T being Willie T and going balls to the wall and he goes and lays out and tries to make like Superman. He's made so many unbelievable catches in foul territory, but just the way he dove and rolled over his glove just got that bone. But he stayed in there because he’s tough as nails, but then it just started to stiffen up, and we knew something wasn't quite right the next day.”

Star centerfielder Cam Cannarella injured his shoulder early in the season and still isn’t 100 percent.

“No, he's not a hundred percent, but he's battling really well. But yeah, he had to stop throwing for a while, and then he started a throwing program and had to build back up,” Bakich said. “And he was dinged for quite some time for us and only playing center field a little bit. But yeah, he's not a hundred percent letting it rip. But he's being smart and he's following his progression, and it doesn’t bother anything to hit or play defense or anything. But yeah, he's doing great and probably makes a few too many long throws than maybe what he's supposed to, but he's super. His superpower is his competitive nature. So yeah, we were worried about him there early on because he did that in week two of the season.

“But yeah, we've been battling the injury bug all year. That's the same game that JJ (catcher Jacob Jarrell) got hit in the face, which was game four of the season. So yes, it's been ever since then we've had kind of one thing after the next. So, it looks like that's going to be part of our story, and it's actually those teams that do special things. And this will certainly be part of our story, but it's either giving some guys some experience, or it's making us tougher by having to overcome it.”