For first time since season-ending injury, D-backs’ Cody Ross returns to Chase Field

Cody Ross stumbled and fell and grimaced and rode off on a medical cart August 11.

That was the last we had heard of him until Saturday, when he hobbled into Chase Field to support his teammates with the support of aluminum crutches.

Ross, 32, suffered a broken and dislocated hip in the aforementioned episode, ruling him out for the rest of the season, offseason and into mid-spring training, he says.

For the first time since the doleful injury, the outfielder spoke with the media prior to Saturday’s game versus the San Francisco Giants.

“It’s obviously nice to be back and see the guys, coaches, trainers, everybody,” Ross said at the beginning of the press conference. “It seems like a long time since I’ve been here, going on three weeks now.”

Given the circumstances of his departure, it has indeed seemed like a long time. Ross practically vanished from the Diamondbacks, being rushed to the hospital following the freak accident.

After hitting a one-hop groundball to third base, Ross ran down the first base line that Sunday at Chase Field against the New York Mets. Having hit the ball so quickly into the glove of opposing third baseman David Wright, Ross knew he’d be out by a good measure so, as he approached the first base bag, he began to slow his pace.

“He threw me out by 20 feet,” he recalled. “And I’m running down to first base and I know I’m out and so I started to shut it down and I think right before the bag, my cleat caught and when that happened I started to fall forward and instead of rolling, the bag was right in front of me, so I tried to catch myself.

“So I put my foot out and my leg just hyperextended.”
Then, in an instant, three things happened to Ross.

The hyperextension caused a force to rush from his caught foot, through his knee and into his hip.

His hip socket popped out of place and a piece of the wall of his hip broke off.

“All the force came out of my hip,” he said.

And he knew right away what happened.

“As soon as I hit, (Mets’ first baseman) Ike Davis and (Diamondbacks first base coach) Steve Sax were right there and they asked if I was alright,” said Ross. “And I was like, ‘No, I think I broke my hip,’ I said. And that was the first thing that came out of my mouth.”

“Sure enough, that’s what happened.”

Now, Ross is less than a month into a three-month period in which doctors have ordered he bear no weight on his lower body — thus, the crutches.

“After the three months, I can start putting weight on my leg and start slowly getting back into the walk,” Ross explained of his rehabilitation process. “Then slowly back into the jog and the running and then (doctors) said I could hopefully be back by spring training.”

Ross, a 10-year veteran, was hitting .278 with eight home runs and 38 RBI in 94 games with the Diamondbacks prior to the injury.