Kotchman: Cron injury ‘could have been a lot worse’

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No official status on C.J. Cron’s gruesome right knee injury was given Monday night. What was said by multiple parties, however, was enough to know the Owlz are both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

The 17th overall pick of the 2011 MLB draft dislocated his kneecap in his first at-bat in Sunday’s win over Ogden, falling to the ground in pain before being attended to by medical personnel.

Cron sent out a message via his Twitter account later that night saying, “Just to update you all it was a dislocated knee cap. Nothing is broke. Appointment [Monday] to make sure my tendons are ligaments are okay.”

A source indicated Monday Cron did not suffer a torn ACL, which would keep him out of action for up to a year. The source requested anonymity in order to respect the Angels’ process before issuing a formal statement.

Following Monday’s 11-5 victory over Ogden, Owlz manager Tom Kotchman hinted that the injury was not as severe as anticipated.

“I know they did some MRIs today and stuff like that,” Kotchman said. “Maybe C.J. will put on his Twitter account or somebody else. I know it could have been a lot worse. It’s still not good, but it could have been a lot worse. He was in a lot of pain. To see that big horse out there and then 15 people try to lift him onto that gurney, I really don’t want to see that again.”

Cron was likewise hesitant to venture a definite status on his knee, saying he would know for certain within the next two weeks the full extent of the injury.

“It’s still very up in the air at this point,” Cron said after Monday’s game. “Obviously it’s a pretty bad dislocation. At the same time, it could just be a dislocation. It might not be too long [until I come back]. We’ll know more here in a week or a couple of weeks when all the swelling goes down and see how mobile it is.”

“As of right now it’s just a dislocation,” he continued. “Like I said, we’re going to rest it for a little bit, let the swelling go all the way down and go from there.”

Before the injury, Cron was leading the Pioneer League with 13 home runs and 41 RBIs while batting at a .308 clip. Despite losing him indefinitely, Kotchman remains optimistic in regards to his team’s offense, which features four of the league’s top batters in terms of batting average — none of whom are Cron.

“We’ve played without CJ earlier in the year,” Kotchman said. “It’s still a shock when you lose your best player.”

Matt Petersen can be reached at petersensports@gmail.com. You can also follow him on Twitter: @SportsWriter93.