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Furcal out for season Braves shortstop to have surgery on dislocated shoulder
Updated: Monday July 09, 2001 6:21 PM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal, the NL rookie of the year in 2000, will miss the rest of the season after dislocating his left shoulder in a game against Boston on Friday night. Furcal will have surgery on Tuesday and need about six months to recover. The Braves expect him to be ready for spring training next season. An MRI on the shoulder Monday in Birmingham, Ala., by Dr. James Andrews indicated the original diagnosis by Braves team doctor Joe Chandler was accurate. "He had a complete dislocation of the shoulder," Chandler said after Atlanta beat the Red Sox 6-5 in 10 innings. Chandler scheduled the MRI to check the amount of damage to the surrounding ligaments and cartilage. Furcal was injured in the ninth inning when he led off with a walk in a 3-all game. He stole second, but slid awkwardly and remained on the dirt after the play in obvious pain. "When I went past the base, I tried to hold on," Furcal said. "I slid a little late and covered the whole base." It wasn't the first time Furcal injured the shoulder. He hurt it during the winter during a Dominican League game diving headfirst on the bases and didn't play for six weeks. He lifted weights to restore strength to the shoulder and came to spring training healthy. But he injured it again earlier in the season and sat out a week. At that time, Braves doctors decided surgery would be needed at the end of the season. Furcal, who won't turn 21 until Aug. 24, was batting .275 this season with four homers, 30 RBIs and was among the league's stolen base leaders with 22. Furcal hit .295 with 40 steals for the Braves last season to earn NL rookie honors. He led NL rookies in runs (87), walks (73), steals and on-base percentage (.394). To replace Furcal, the Braves recalled infielder Jesse Garcia from Class AAA Richmond on Saturday. Garcia hit .263 with one homer, 17 RBIs and 13 stolen bases at Richmond, but is expected to back up Mark DeRosa as the starting shortstop. DeRosa is hitting .420 (21-for-50) with six RBIs.
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