At Monday’s Diamondbacks game the news was not all great. It should have been the next to last tune-up game for Diamondbacks players as they prepared for Opening Day in Los Angeles. We should have watched as the regulars got an at-bat or two before giving way to minor league players getting perhaps their first opportunity to play at Chase Field.

It should have been a time when the players were getting used to the new artificial grass in the stadium and interacting with the fans who were eager for the new season to begin. And the game started out that way.

The starters were in there as the game began. Things seemed to be going as you would have expected; that is until the fourth inning. The top of the fourth went extremely well. Diamondbacks starting pitcher Luke Weaver was dealing setting the White Sox down in order by forcing an infield popup by Jose Abreu followed by striking out Yonder Alonso and Eloy Jimenez in impressive fashion.

The bottom of the fourth also seemed to be going the Diamondbacks way. After a leadoff walk to David Peralta, right fielder Steven Souza Jr. grounded to the shortstop but through his hustle he was safe at first with Peralta out at second. Next Jake Lamb flew out to centerfield for the second out.

With Ketel Marte at the plate White Sox pitcher Ervin Santa threw a wild pitch to move Souza to second. Marte then doubles to right field and Souza scores to give the Diamondbacks the lead. While everyone was watching the ball in right and Marte going to second, few noticed that Souza fell to the ground after scoring.

Replays would show that Souza touched home plate and his cleats slid across it. This caused his left knee to hyper-extend and twist. He went to the ground screaming in agony so loudly we could hear him near the Diamondbacks bullpen in left field. The crowd sat stunned at what had just happened.

Memories came flooding back of a year ago almost to the day when Souza injured himself while diving for a ball in the outfield. That injury would cost him most of the 2018 season. Now there he was being looked at by the medical staff. Each passing moment with him on the ground almost assured those in attendance we probably saw the last play Souza would play this season.

The Diamondbacks were fairly tight-lipped about the extent of the injury saying they would not know more until the following day. It was only then that we heard he had torn his ACL and his LCL and other assorted knee areas. He would undergo season-ending surgery as soon as the swelling subsided.

Speculation immediately began about what the Diamondbacks would do with their outfield. That is a natural question but minimizes the human nature of what we had just seen. Steven Souza Jr. had worked hard this entire off-season to prepare for the 2019 campaign.

With the loss of Paul Goldschmidt and AJ Pollock the Diamondbacks needed him and his bat to step up and lead the offense. Throughout Spring Training it looked as though that is just what Souza was prepared to do.

In a fleeting moment during a meaningless game all that hard work went out the window. For the second year in a row he would be standing or perhaps sitting on the sidelines watching his team try to compete.

It has to feel helpless knowing that your goals and plans completely disappeared in a fraction of a second when your plastic cleats slid across the new plate at Chase Field. We all have a certain amount of pride that we are brought in to do a job and we want to do it in the best possible way. And when that is taken away from you, you feel lost and frustrated and not really part of the organization.

Let’s not lose sight of the human nature of this injury. The Diamondbacks didn’t lose a roster spot or a right fielder. They watched a teammate go down in a freak accident that cost him his season and perhaps more depending on how things go during surgery and rehabilitation. The players will all try to keep Souza engaged and the training staff will do their part to help him with the physical therapy and probably the mental therapy he will need to understand that the most important thing for him to do is to heal.

Let’s all keep him in our thoughts and prayers and remember him not just while the images of this injury are paraded across the news media but also during these next several months when there will be dark and disappointing times where he feels alone. He’s not, there are a lot of people both inside the Diamondbacks organization and outside that are pulling for him to get better and come back.