Yesterday was what MLB Network Radio's Jeff Joyce calls "truth day". When players return to camp, we sometimes hear the real story about events that happened the year before. Didn't play well in September? The player now says there was a knee injury. We now know the truth about the infamous Phillies play that ended in Andrew McCutchen tearing his ACL and losing the season: that affected infielder Jean Segura greatly.
That play was one in which Segura did not run out a ground ball, exposing McCutchen to a rundown. In the rundown, McCutchen tore his ACL and would not play the rest of the season.
Segura told Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the injury affected Segura mentally as the season went on:
“It affected me mentally because one of my teammates went down because I didn’t run down the line," Segura said. "I thought about it a lot through the season. My body, my energy level went down. I was frustrated because at that time he was hot, he was leading off. I was hitting second. It was like a one-two punch right away.”
The numbers show a great difference.
Alex Carr of SB Nation's The Good Phight shared the difference the injury might have made on Segura's game:
Jean Segura prior to Andrew McCutchen’s injury at the beginning of June:
47 G, .301/.348/.461, 5 HR, .809 OPS Jean Segura thru the remainder of the month of June: 27 G, .223/.261/.438, 5 HR, .698 OPS Coincidence? Probably not. — Alex Carr (@AlexCarrMLB) February 17, 2020
Meanwhile, McCutchen seemed to accept the lack of hustle, and was ready to move on:
Andrew McCutchen on Jean Segura feeling bad people blame him for his ACL injury “It’s all good. We talked about it… We’re fine. Learn from it, move on. Guarantee next time he’s going to run to first! That’s the end of it. It’s not like I was mad at him or upset at him”@6abchttps://t.co/a7FoQ9olWopic.twitter.com/QVfyjakLna — Jeff Skversky 6abc (@JeffSkversky) February 18, 2020
So the Phillies, Segura, and McCutchen move on.
Segura, meanwhile, could move forward at a position new to him. During drills yesterday, Segura manned third base, while Scott Kingery was at second base. Many had assumed Segura would return to second base, where he once played with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a regular basis. But with Alec Bohm looming in the minors and Segura bound to return to shortstop after Didi Gregorius completes his one-year deal, Segura could stay on the left side.
Segura told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that he was willing to do whatever the team thought best in terms of his defensive alignment. Segura, meanwhile, reported to camp 14 pounds lighter. Segura said cutting whiskey out of his diet made him much healther.
