Major League Baseball prospect Ryan Lasko is in stable condition after a terrifying outfield collision left him with a C6-C7 vertebra fracture and no feeling in his legs, according to MLB.com.
Lasko, 24, underwent spinal decompression and stabilization surgery and doctors hope he will regain sensation in his lower body as swelling decreases. Dr. Jonathan Poggi, who performed the surgery, told MLB.com that if Lasko is able to regain feeling in his legs, it would likely take “a significant amount of time.”
“The positive in the statement from the doctor is that there is not a definitive statement saying he’s not going to regain feeling in his lower half,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com. “We send prayers to him, to his family, to his teammate, and the team, really. This is a trying and emotional time for them. We need to be there to support them, and I know we are.”
Kotsay, 50, added that all of Lasko’s teammates are expected to visit him at some point.
The injury occurred in the third inning of his Double-A Midland RockHounds’s game against the Frisco RoughRiders. Lasko and outfielder Devin Taylor both went after a fly ball in the gap, colliding as they each dove for the ball. Taylor, 22, was able to get up immediately, retrieving the ball as it rolled toward the outfield wall and firing it back into the infield as Lasko lay motionless.
Teammates immediately ran over to check on him and he was eventually stretchered off the field and taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano.
“I’ve been in touch with Ryan’s mom, Patti, to pass along the organization’s support and to let her know that all of us, throughout our system, have them in our thoughts and prayers,” A’s general manager David Forst said in a statement. “We are incredibly grateful to Noah Huff and Audy Merrick, our athletic trainers in Midland, for their on-field actions last night, as well as to the Frisco RoughRiders and the paramedics on the scene. We are encouraged by the reports and updates from Dr. Jonathan Poggi, and we will continue to put all of the resources of our medical staff towards supporting Ryan and his recovery.”
The team announced that A’s player development director Ed Sprague is traveling to Texas to stay with Lasko and that counseling will be made available to his teammates.
Lasko, a 2023 second-round pick out of Rutgers University, is ranked as the No. 18 prospect in the A’s organization. After spending time with the big league club during Spring Training, he made a strong impression on Kotsay.
“He’s a competitor,” Kotsay said. “He’s emotional. Both of those things, I can vividly recall just being around him. And then just his passion for baseball. … The biggest thing we can all do is hope and pray that he recovers the feeling in his lower half and always be there to support him.”
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