Antonio Senzatela discusses season-ending injury and provides update

Amid the fresh faces in the Colorado Rockies clubhouse this week at Coors Field was the return of Antonio Senzatela after season-ending ACL surgery.

The 27-year-old went down in a scary incident on August 18 in St. Louis during the second inning while covering first base on a ground ball to rookie Elehuris Montero.

“I felt it in the back of the knee,” Senzatela said of the initial pain. “’Oh, my hammy again.’ But as I got to a ground I was like, ‘It’s not my hammy, it’s my knee. Hopefully it’s nothing bad.’ As soon as I saw (head athletic trainer Keith Duggar) testing it, his face was like, ‘Wow. You’re out of here.’”

Surgery on his left knee went smoothly and the recovery has been fantastic so far, according the right-hander.

“When I (saw the knee) the first two days, I was like, ‘Oh God, it’s gonna be a long way.’ But right now, I feel really good. I can walk and do everything almost normal,” he shared.

Injuries to the ACL aren’t as common for pitchers when compared to position players who make more dynamic movements and do so more frequently for upwards of 162 games per season. Then there’s also running the bases.

Ronald Acuña Jr. missed the second-half of 2021 and much of April this season with the injury. Minnesota Twins prospect and first overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft Royce Lewis had his rookie season halted abruptly from the same thing this year.

On opposite ends of the spectrum, Marcus Stroman had his second year in the majors erased with an ACL injury while Mariano Rivera had his penultimate season cut short at age 42.

Stroman tore his left ACL, Rivera his right. Both pitchers returned to full strength. 

Senzatela will be out six-to-eight months before he’s back on a Major League mound contributing for Colorado.

The prognosis was initially a shock to him when visiting the team doctor.

“I was asking, ‘(When) will I be back? Two weeks, three weeks?’ They said, ‘No. You’ll be back next year, hopefully.’”

For now, he can do upper body exercises with throwing set to begin in about two months.

The injury also meant he could participate in the World Baseball Classic next spring with Team Venezuela.

“Early I was thinking about it, like if I finished the season strong. I would have pitched for them, so long as they’d let me,” Senzatela confessed. “I love Venezuela. I want to pitch for them. Right now I can’t, so I’m waiting for the next one.”

Senzatela understands the assignment. He must focus on his rehabilitation. 

But there will be time for him to plan for 2023 in other ways.

“I was trying to put in my mind the best I can (use) this time to make me a better pitcher,” he explained before adding, “Start learning more for the hitters because I’m gonna have a little more time off. So I might be stuck doing some homework.”

He’ll also be able to spend some time on the bench and in the clubhouse passing down some wisdom for the team’s lesser experienced pitchers much like the previous corps of players did for him as a young player.

“When I got here, it was CarGo, (Gerardo) Parra, Ian Desmond. They took care of us really well. They taught us how to be a big leaguer. That’s what we’re trying to do with them,” Senzatela said.

Colorado will spend the offseason determining just how much of the 2022 roster should return after a fourth-consecutive losing campaign.

After signing a five-year, $50.5 million extension last October, Senzatela will unquestionably be an integral part of those plans.

Now, it’s only a matter of when he returns and how much he’ll resemble the Senzatela of recent vintage.