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Chicago White Sox: Former Yankees outfielder suing over injury

By Benjamin Chase

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 29: Dustin Fowler (on the ground) of the New York Yankees sits on the ground as the trainer looks at his leg after trying to catch a foul ball hit by Jose Abreu (not Pictured) of the Chicago White Sox. Fowler had to leave the game and was taken off the field on a cart, on June 29, 2017 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 29: Dustin Fowler (on the ground) of the New York Yankees sits on the ground as the trainer looks at his leg after trying to catch a foul ball hit by Jose Abreu (not Pictured) of the Chicago White Sox. Fowler had to leave the game and was taken off the field on a cart, on June 29, 2017 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago White Sox are being sued due to a play that took place on the field in the 2017 season in a game against the Yankees.

Many Chicago White Sox fans may say that the way the team played on the field should be viable for litigation, but the team is actually going to be facing legal implications from play on the field in 2017, just not play by the Chicago White Sox players.

The play

On June 29th, Dustin Fowler, an outfielder for the New York Yankees at the time in his major league debut, was chasing down a fly ball down the right field line into foul territory. Fowler attempted to slow to a stop in the dirt of foul territory, but his momentum took him into the wall, colliding with an unpadded electrical box, which caused Fowler to flip over the low railing on the wall. Fowler attempted to stand up, but he immediately collapsed.

Game play was stopped for significant time as medical personnel attended to Fowler. He was diagnosed with a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee and missed the rest of the 2017 season.

The lawsuit states that the Chicago White Sox and the agency that manages Guaranteed Rate Field did not properly secure the electrical box that Fowler collided with should have been secured and padded to protect players on the field. The suit also claims that both parties had plenty of time to correct the conditions before Fowler’s incident.

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The player

Fowler was a fringe top-100 prospect before the 2017 season after hitting .281/.311/.458 with the Yankees AA club at 21 years old with 30 doubles, 15 triples, 12 home runs, and 25 stolen bases. Fowler was considered among the top 10-15 Yankees prospects in one of the deepest and most talented farm systems in the game.

He opened the 2017 season with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .293/.329/.542 with 19 doubles, 8 triples, 13 home runs, and 13 stolen bases in 70 games before his call up to the major leagues.

He was traded as part of a mid-season deal with the Oakland Athletics that brought back Sonny Gray to the Yankees. He’s still ranked well, even with recovery from the injury part of his projection, ranking #5 in Baseball Prospectus’ top 10 prospects for a now-deep Oakland Athletics farm system.

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While I’m no legal expert to say what sort of legal standing this particular suit has against the Chicago White Sox, it could lead to a very intriguing precedence for future cases based on how it is handled.

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