Doctor calls A’s rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer ‘a tough kid’ after surgery for ruptured testicle

Athletics rookie infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer took a foul ball to about as unpleasant an area as you can imagine during Monday’s game at the Arizona Diamondbacks, prompting emergency surgery performed by an Arizona doctor.

Kuroda-Grauer’s fifth-inning swing redirected a pitch straight at himself and he suffered a ruptured testicle. Perhaps more remarkable than the slim odds of something like that happening was the rookie staying in the at-bat and hitting a single.

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer has undergone surgery for a ruptured testicle after this moment last night. Somehow he still singled right after.

All-time sports accomplishment. No debate. pic.twitter.com/Mql8VuE8UH

— Baseball Is Dead (@baseballisdead_) July 21, 2026

Dr. Ali Borhan, a certified urologist based in Arizona who has been a team physician with the Diamondbacks for over a decade, performed the emergency surgery shortly after the game.

“He’s a tough kid,” Borhan told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday. “If you look at the video … it’s not like it manifests itself immediately. It’s kind of like these movies where someone gets shot and then it shows a few minutes later. He didn’t feel the impact.

“And they’re tough. There’s a mentality to get to the major leagues and, you know, that’s a great mentality … but the point here is to also respect your body and I think they did that. I think everything was done really, really well here. It was probably from the time of diagnosis to the time of surgery less than an hour.”

Borhan said because Kuroda-Grauer is so young and he got help so quickly, he’s on track to recover well.

“I am very optimistic about his life being as he planned it,” Borhan said. “Let’s just put it that way without going into specifics. I don’t know about my body at my age but at that age, everything heels.”

He said he’s done the procedure about 100 times, including for roughly a handful of other athletes in similar situations.

What’s next for A’s rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer after ruptured testicle?

Kuroda-Grauer was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

The A’s said he was resting comfortably a day after the unfortunately placed foul ball. Kuroda-Grauer fell to the ground in pain and after his remarkable single was replaced at third base by Donovan Walton in the sixth inning.

Called up June 29 from the minors, Kuroda-Grauer batted .417 with seven doubles in his first 16 big league games before the injury. He hit his first career homer in the second inning Monday.

The A’s won the game 5-2, it being their only win in the series.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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