- Zach Plesac was placed on the injured list with a fractured thumb.
- Plesac's thumb injury stems from an incident where he took off his shirt too aggressively.
- MLB has been plagued by a long list of bizarre injuries this year, and Plesac's is just the latest.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
An X-ray revealed that Cleveland pitcher Zach Plesac suffered a fractured thumb, which landed him on the team's injured list.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona told reporters that the 26-year-old right-hander suffered the injury when he was "rather aggressively ripping off his shirt" and got his thumb hit hard on a chair by his locker in the clubhouse.
The injury occurred Sunday after Plesac came off the mound during Cleveland's 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Plesac had only pitched 3.2 innings and gave up five runs, so his poor outing might have resulted in some frustration by the time he got to the locker room.
"He called [athletic trainer] James Quinlan, and James called me," Francona said. "It was pretty swollen yesterday … As you can imagine, our wheels started to turn."
The pitcher will reportedly meet with hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham in Ohio on Wednesday to learn more about the prognosis.
Plesac's injury is just the latest in a long list of injuries stemming from bizarre incidents in MLB this year. Braves pitcher Huascar Ynoa broke his hand when he punched a dugout bench out of frustration on May 17, while Athletics pitcher Jesus Luzardo broke his pinkie when he bumped it against a desk while playing video games on May 2.
Last season, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zach Wheelers was scratched from a start when he hurt the nail on his finger while putting on his pants, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In 2018, Oakland Athletics pitcher Shawn Kelley lacerated his right thumb while washing dishes, according to Yahoo Sports.
In 2011, former San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt had to undergo season-ending surgery to repair nerve damage in his right hand after cutting it while trying to separate frozen hamburger patties at a barbeque, according to NBC Sports.
By comparison, Plesac's incident seems almost uniform at this point.