As the Los Angeles Dodgers attempted to defend their World Series title, they navigated a season that was marred by injuries. Edwin Rios was among those lost for the year, as he underwent surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Rios struggled prior to the operation, which ultimately was explained by the injury. The shoulder trouble was not made public until a stint on the 10-day injured list began May 5. News of Rios needing to undergo season-ending surgery came one week later.
“With baseball, I feel like you’re always grinding and feeling something. It’s one of those things where you’re in there getting treatment, it just wasn’t getting better,” he said at the time. “We took a look at it and when we took a look at it, it was worse than we thought. The doctor advised me to get surgery.”
During a recent appearance on the “Holding Kourt Podcast,” Rios expressed disappointment that he wasn’t going to be able to help the Dodgers and vowed to learn from the experience:
“It was one of those frustrating things. I’d love to be here with the guys. After last year’s run, there’s nothing better than trying to defend that title. Just missing out, it sucks, it’s frustrating, it’s all kinds of things. But at the end of the day it’s something I’m definitely going to learn from. It builds character, resilience. I got knocked down, and now it’s time for me to get up, do what I’ve always done and just get ready for next year. Cheer you guys on during this whole run and hope for the best. I want you guys to win that championship and maybe next year we make it a three-peat.”
One can understand Rios’ frustration as there are few things more frustrating than not being able to contribute in the postseason.
The 27-year-old posted a .946 on-base plus slugging in 32 regular season games for the Dodgers last year and went on to collect two hits in 14 playoff at-bats across three series.
Rios followed up by hitting just .078/.217/.137 with one home run in 60 plate appearances before injuring his shoulder. “I’ll be back,” he said in May.
“We’re going to rehab this thing and I’m going to be back stronger. … The plan is to go to AZ, rehab this thing, get back to 100% and get back to doing what I do.”
Rios played through shoulder injury for multiple years
Rios went into length about his shoulder injury and revealed that it had been an issue for him since playing collegiately at Florida International University.
Rios underwent labrum surgery during his junior season, but the injury eventually resurfaced despite keeping up with a shoulder program that only helped occasionally.
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