June 19, 2026 • 6 mins
Elly De La Cruz is set to begin a rehab assignment as he returns from a hamstring injury. Dr. Jonathan Slaughter from OrthoCincy joined us to discuss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Orthosincy is with us. We do
this every single week, we chat about injuries with one
of the experts from Ortho Sincy Orthopedic Sports Medicine. You
know the great thing about Ortho Sincy you never need
an appointment, so walkins are always welcome, and so you know,
if you suffer an urgent orthopedic injury, the injury didn't
(00:20):
make an appointment with you. You don't have to make
an appointment with Ortho Sincy. They have specialist locations and
services all over the Tri State. This includes walkin orthopedic
urgent care at five different locations with extended evening and
weekend hours and Edgewood and Anderson. You can learn more
at orthosinc dot com. That's Ortho ci Ncy dot com.
(00:43):
Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Orthosinci is with us. Let's talk
about Eli de la Cruz. This weekend, he's gonna play
in some rehab games for the Louisville Bats. And let's
go back to the beginning here, because when he's first
suffered the hamstring injury, it was described as being between
a grade one or Grade two hand hamstring strain. So
what's the difference between grade one and grade two.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, so a lot of it's based on imaging and
the damage that's done to the hamstring. So you get
an MRI, looking at is their damage, and it's done
by you see a different signal in the tendon and muscle.
So a grade one there's signal change indicating inflammation and damage,
but none of the muscle fibers themselves have been damaged.
(01:28):
Where a Grade two starts to show some disruption to
the muscle fibers less than fifty percent, and then a
Grade three would be greater than fifty percent disruption to
the muscle fibers. A lot of times complete pairs.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He got a soft tissue injection, which has been described
as similar to a PRP. How does that help in
this process?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, So POP is platelet rich plasma where they draw
blood from you, put the blood in the centrifuge, separate
the plasma. They then inject that plasma into the area,
and that plasma is rich in growth factors which increase
the healing, increase blood flow to the area, which also
(02:13):
increase healing, increases tissue regeneration, and decreases inflammation.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
When he had an MRI last week, the word was
he's ninety percent healed. I'm kind of curious, maybe you
could explain the difference between ninety percent and one hundred
percent healed.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The way I take that is the MRI probably looks
pretty much clean at this point, and that his strength
of his hamstring is not backed and compared to the
other side, because one of the return to play criteria
is you want your hamstring at least ninety percent the
strength of the other side to be able to return
(02:53):
to play.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So the plan for him this weekend is he's going
to play in Triple A on Friday, five innings, then
he's going to dag on Saturday, and then the plan
is for him to play a full nine inning game
at shortstop on Sunday. From a medical perspective, what sort
of things will they be looking for.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
They're going to be his stride to make sure that
there's no signs of pain or limping or imbalance. They're
going to be making sure he can cut and making
sure he's one hundred percent pain free.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So his game is often based on speed. Should he
wait to really quote cut it loose once he's back
on the field.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
To me, the only reason to really wait to cut
it loose is if he doesn't have one hundred percent
confidence yet, if he doesn't have a hundred percent, more
likely to potentially re injure it. If he has one
hundred percent confidence, is pain free. He's passed his strength tests,
he's passed his agility tests as well as different position maneuvers.
(03:50):
I think he's okay to cut it loose.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He plays every single day. At the time of the injury,
he had played it over two hundred and fifty consecutive games,
starting all but one of them, and so there's been
a lot of conjecture about how you know it would
make sense to give him rest on a somewhat regular basis.
What cannot playing on occasion do to hamstring muscles?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, just allows them to rest and recover. They're not
stretching it, they're not straining it, they get the blood
flow so allows it to just recover. That. You look
at people like cal Ripton who did these ridiculous iron
man who were able, but in today's game, with just
(04:34):
athletes reaching levels never really seen before, sometimes it is
good just to let their body recover.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He had the quad issue last year, He's had the
hamstring issue this season. Is there a concern about an
accumulation of lower body injuries for Ellie.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I wouldn't be overly concerned at this point. It's two
different muscles. It could just be that there was an
imbalance between the strength between injured last year in the
hamstring this year, where the quad can become too strong
compared to the hamstring, which can increase the risk of
hamstring injuries. As long as he keeps his balance between
(05:13):
his strength between the quad and the hamstrings, as well
as the range of motion of his knees hips, that
can all be protective and I would not be concerned
as of yet.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Terrific awesome stuff. Man, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You got it, Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Ortho sincey we
love the folks at Ortho Sincy for a billion different reasons.
The next time you or someone in your family suffers
an urgent orthopedic injury, make sure to go to Orthos.
Since the orthopedic urgent care locations all over the Tri State,
including Edgewood and Anderson with extended evening and weekend hours
(05:49):
nine to nine during the week and nine to one
on Saturdays. It's easier because you don't need an appointment, ever,
and it's definitely cheaper than going to an er. Whenever
you have an urgent orthopedic in jigo to orthos Cincy
dot com. That's Ortho c I n c y dot com.
Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Orthosincy is with us. We do
this every single week, we chat about injuries with one
of the experts from Ortho Sincy Orthopedic Sports Medicine. You
know the great thing about Ortho Sincy you never need
an appointment, so walkins are always welcome, and so you know,
if you suffer an urgent orthopedic injury, the injury didn't
(00:20):
make an appointment with you. You don't have to make
an appointment with Ortho Sincy. They have specialist locations and
services all over the Tri State. This includes walkin orthopedic
urgent care at five different locations with extended evening and
weekend hours and Edgewood and Anderson. You can learn more
at orthosinc dot com. That's Ortho ci Ncy dot com.
(00:43):
Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Orthosinci is with us. Let's talk
about Eli de la Cruz. This weekend, he's gonna play
in some rehab games for the Louisville Bats. And let's
go back to the beginning here, because when he's first
suffered the hamstring injury, it was described as being between
a grade one or Grade two hand hamstring strain. So
what's the difference between grade one and grade two.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, so a lot of it's based on imaging and
the damage that's done to the hamstring. So you get
an MRI, looking at is their damage, and it's done
by you see a different signal in the tendon and muscle.
So a grade one there's signal change indicating inflammation and damage,
but none of the muscle fibers themselves have been damaged.
(01:28):
Where a Grade two starts to show some disruption to
the muscle fibers less than fifty percent, and then a
Grade three would be greater than fifty percent disruption to
the muscle fibers. A lot of times complete pairs.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He got a soft tissue injection, which has been described
as similar to a PRP. How does that help in
this process?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, So POP is platelet rich plasma where they draw
blood from you, put the blood in the centrifuge, separate
the plasma. They then inject that plasma into the area,
and that plasma is rich in growth factors which increase
the healing, increase blood flow to the area, which also
(02:13):
increase healing, increases tissue regeneration, and decreases inflammation.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
When he had an MRI last week, the word was
he's ninety percent healed. I'm kind of curious, maybe you
could explain the difference between ninety percent and one hundred
percent healed.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The way I take that is the MRI probably looks
pretty much clean at this point, and that his strength
of his hamstring is not backed and compared to the
other side, because one of the return to play criteria
is you want your hamstring at least ninety percent the
strength of the other side to be able to return
(02:53):
to play.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So the plan for him this weekend is he's going
to play in Triple A on Friday, five innings, then
he's going to dag on Saturday, and then the plan
is for him to play a full nine inning game
at shortstop on Sunday. From a medical perspective, what sort
of things will they be looking for.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
They're going to be his stride to make sure that
there's no signs of pain or limping or imbalance. They're
going to be making sure he can cut and making
sure he's one hundred percent pain free.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So his game is often based on speed. Should he
wait to really quote cut it loose once he's back
on the field.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
To me, the only reason to really wait to cut
it loose is if he doesn't have one hundred percent
confidence yet, if he doesn't have a hundred percent, more
likely to potentially re injure it. If he has one
hundred percent confidence, is pain free. He's passed his strength tests,
he's passed his agility tests as well as different position maneuvers.
(03:50):
I think he's okay to cut it loose.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He plays every single day. At the time of the injury,
he had played it over two hundred and fifty consecutive games,
starting all but one of them, and so there's been
a lot of conjecture about how you know it would
make sense to give him rest on a somewhat regular basis.
What cannot playing on occasion do to hamstring muscles?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, just allows them to rest and recover. They're not
stretching it, they're not straining it, they get the blood
flow so allows it to just recover. That. You look
at people like cal Ripton who did these ridiculous iron
man who were able, but in today's game, with just
(04:34):
athletes reaching levels never really seen before, sometimes it is
good just to let their body recover.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He had the quad issue last year, He's had the
hamstring issue this season. Is there a concern about an
accumulation of lower body injuries for Ellie.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I wouldn't be overly concerned at this point. It's two
different muscles. It could just be that there was an
imbalance between the strength between injured last year in the
hamstring this year, where the quad can become too strong
compared to the hamstring, which can increase the risk of
hamstring injuries. As long as he keeps his balance between
(05:13):
his strength between the quad and the hamstrings, as well
as the range of motion of his knees hips, that
can all be protective and I would not be concerned
as of yet.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Terrific awesome stuff. Man, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You got it, Doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Ortho sincey we
love the folks at Ortho Sincy for a billion different reasons.
The next time you or someone in your family suffers
an urgent orthopedic injury, make sure to go to Orthos.
Since the orthopedic urgent care locations all over the Tri State,
including Edgewood and Anderson with extended evening and weekend hours
(05:49):
nine to nine during the week and nine to one
on Saturdays. It's easier because you don't need an appointment, ever,
and it's definitely cheaper than going to an er. Whenever
you have an urgent orthopedic in jigo to orthos Cincy
dot com. That's Ortho c I n c y dot com.
Mo Egger News
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