Spare us the jokes about Royals Adalberto Mondesi, who deserves compassion not mockery
When shortstop Adalberto Mondesi left Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox with what was initially described as “left knee discomfort,” you weren’t alone if you flinched or winced over the latest setback for a would-be pillar of a Royals resurgence.
Given his distressing injury history, alas, it seemed more likely than not that his sixth-inning exit was a harbinger of worse news ahead when it comes to the infinitely talented young man.
So it was perhaps of little surprise when Royals general manager Dayton Moore told reporters in Chicago on Thursday that Mondesi had suffered a torn left ACL.
“We’re just trying to process it,” Moore said, according to The Star’s Lynn Worthy.
So is anyone who follows or cares about the Royals when it comes to this mesmerizing player, one who has left us holding our breath in anticipation of the spectacular … but also holding our breath fretting over when the next debilitating injury might come.
But please spare us the jabs and jokes about Mondesi, who wants nothing more than to realize his potential and be a great teammate.
It’s one thing to feel disappointed as a fan, and it’s certainly reasonable to wonder how the Royals must further confront questions of his future.
It’s another, though, to ridicule a gentle soul who we should view not as somehow lacking in wherewithal or grit but perhaps star-crossed and certainly deserving of compassion.
Because before this is about anything else, this is about a human being with a remarkable gift that now seems to be in jeopardy of never being quite actualized.
That would be too bad for the Royals and anyone invested in them, but it has to be a devastating time for the sensitive Mondesi — who could use empathy instead of mockery.
“Obviously, Mondi is really upset and disappointed and sad,” Moore said Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field. “He’s hurting.”
Especially since even at the age of 26 and under club control through 2023, it feels like time is evaporating on Mondesi.
Suddenly, it’s been nearly 11 years since the Royals signed him in the Dominican Republic on his 16th birthday. It’s been seven years since he became the first player in major-league history to make his debut during the World Series.
And now it’s been four years since he did something only five players in MLB history had accomplished, when he recorded four hits, two doubles and three steals in a game … while also flashing the terrific defense that speaks to an uncanny skill-set of power, speed and defense that can alter games in a variety of ways.
That was one of a number of snapshots of Mondesi’s brilliant upside, which also included producing 20 RBIs and 23 runs in September 2020.
“We’ve been talking about how special of a player he is and we’re just getting little glimpses of it like we did tonight, but it sure is fun to watch,” then-manager Ned Yost said four years ago.
He later added that watching Mondesi was like watching a couple other Royals’ whirlwinds: “It’s like the Road Runner — you expect there to be a ... little dust following him.”
But it’s been like so much dust in the wind because of a seemingly never-ending and excruciating series of injuries that have stranded his career in limbo and scrambled the Royals’ hopes for this season and at least deferred yet again Moore’s vision of a pillar of the franchise’s hopes being to maximize the time Mondesi, Sal Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. can play together.
“We’ve got to figure out how to do that as long as we can,” Moore said as he watched Mondesi on an injury-rehab assignment playing with Witt for the first time in a game that counted last year at Class AA Northwest Arkansas.
Painfully for all, that just became more of a challenge. But let’s try to remember to whom it’s not just problematic, but traumatic.
Maybe one day he’ll find his way to health and prosperity, and that will make all this seem like the start of a great story about resilience and perseverance.
But maybe this will never come to work out as we would hope, either, no matter how resilient and passionate Mondesi will be about it.
And that storyline shouldn’t make him any less of a person we should feel for … and perhaps should make us summon something more on his behalf.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 1:40 PM.