Thairo Estrada returns to action after gunshot wound

 

Thairo Estrada, the Yankees’ infield prospect who suffered a gunshot wound during a robbery attempt in his native Venezuela in late January, was activated from the seven-day Minor League disabled list on Wednesday. He will play shortstop and hit third in the batting order for Class-A Tampa. 

Estrada, 22, was with his wife when two teenagers reportedly demanded Estrada’s cell phone and money at a restaurant in Bejuma, Venezuela. When Estrada said he had neither on him, the teenagers shot him in the right hip. Estrada’s wife has not hurt. 

Estrada was with the team during spring training, and Brian Cashman said that the club expected him to play the bulk of the season. 

“Right after it happened, I didn’t have any feeling. I was walking around fine,” Estrada said during the spring, via a report from the New York Daily News. “I went to the hospital, they did some tests and that’s when they noticed there was a bullet inside. They did an operation and I was in the hospital for a few days.”

Although no further surgeries are scheduled, the bullet is still lodged in Estrada’s hip. He told reporters that it’s expected to stay there, and that it shouldn’t affect him at all.

“The situation out there [in Venezuela] is not very good, not very safe,” Estrada said. “As baseball players, it makes you think about not even going back anymore.”

According to MLBPipeline, Estrada is the Yankees’ No. 10 prospect. In 2017 with Double-A Trenton, he slashed .301/.353/.392 with 19 doubles, six home runs, and 48 RBI in 542 plate appearances. 

 

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