Jose Iglesias leaves spring training game with shin injury

Iglesias "slid awkwardly" while running the bases and left the game for precautionary reasons.

Time to panic! Wait, no, don't. It's not that shin injury. Jose Iglesias left today's Grapefruit League game against the New York Mets with a right shin contusion. Iglesias sustained the injury when sliding "awkwardly" into second base on a steal attempt in the top of the fourth inning. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports that Iglesias was icing his right shin after being removed from the game.

"I slid late and I hit it with the wrong spot," Iglesias said. "But I'll be fine. Just a bruise in the bone."...

"We gotta be smart," he said. "This is going to happen in the game, especially for me, been a little while, but I'll be fine. Put some ice on it and get ready to train tomorrow."

More importantly, the Tigers have reported that this injury is not related to the bilateral stress fractures that sidelined him for the entire 2014 season. Iglesias dealt with shin splints throughout most of the 2013 season, occasionally missing games down the stretch due to pain. He and the team gave little indication that there was something wrong at the start of spring training last year, but his first setback came before the calendar even turned to March. By St. Patrick's Day, the 23-year-old shortstop had been diagnosed with stress fractures in both legs.

Today's injury is no cause for concern, though. Iglesias slid into second base with his left leg extended. His left foot rose over the base, resulting in his right leg slamming into the front part of the bag. Iglesias remained in the game until he scored a run on a Bryan Holaday sacrifice fly, but was taken out before returning to his position for the bottom of the inning.

Iglesias went 1-for-2 with an RBI single and a run scored in two plate appearances. He was slated to play four innings in today's game.