{"id":2404005,"date":"2026-05-06T00:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2404005"},"modified":"2026-05-06T00:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:58:07","slug":"how-the-kc-royals-convinced-jonathan-india-to-get-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-the-kc-royals-convinced-jonathan-india-to-get-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"How the KC Royals convinced Jonathan India to get surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s been a procedure five years in the making for Jonathan India. He finally had surgery on his left labrum.<\/p>\n

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Athletes are used to playing hurt. In many cases, it can be required to excel at the professional level.<\/p>\n

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But India, 29, had been playing with shoulder subluxations for five years, since his major league career started with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021. His left shoulder, the side the second baseman catches with, would pop out of place. He\u2019d simply pop it back in.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSounds psychotic, but just the person I am when I\u2019m on that field,\u201d India told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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The infielder has left games previously after diving on his left side<\/a>. One play against the Cleveland Guardians early in this season was the final straw. When the Royals suffered a walk-off loss in Cleveland in frigid temperatures on April 7<\/a>, India went for a routine dive.<\/p>\n

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After the dive, his shoulder simply had nothing left to give, he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI couldn\u2019t lift my arm above my head the next week,\u201d India said. \u201cI even tried to play the next week, you know, I did everything I could. The trainers helped me try to prepare for the games, and it was just … I couldn\u2019t swing. So that was probably the final straw, physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

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India was placed on the 10-day injured list on April 20 during KC\u2019s series against the New York Yankees.<\/p>\n

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The Royals got him checked by medical staff and were hopeful to get him back, but they made the determination that surgery was needed. The surgery was performed on April 28, putting India out for the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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It took essentially the whole organization to encourage India to get the surgery he\u2019s been needing for so long. Head trainer Kyle Turner, general manager J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro were some of the loudest organizational voices influencing him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey really made me realize, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re hurting yourself. You\u2019ve dealt with for so long, and we could tell that you\u2019re in pain every day. We appreciate how tough you are, but we need you to be at your best,\u2019\u201d India said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt actually made me realize it\u2019s time to do it. And I couldn\u2019t thank this organization enough for believing in me, and being honest with me. And not saying, \u2018Oh, we need you to play every day. We need you on the field no matter what, at all costs.\u2019 They actually care for your health and they care for the person you are. So it\u2019s pretty special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Quatraro explained the Royals\u2019 big-picture approach.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen you undergo something like that, you want to get as many opinions and look for the immediate consequence and the long-term consequence and all that for his career,\u201d Quatraro said on Tuesday. \u201cI think he understood that this was probably the best thing long term. He was going to be a free agent at the end of the year, all those things, and he\u2019s been playing hurt for at least the year-plus that we\u2019ve had him. And after a while, that just wears you down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In New York, several of his teammates made it clear they want him healthy, and he clearly was not.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe all had a gathering after one of the games, and a lot of them just kept reassuring me, like, \u2018Hey, we could tell your pain. It\u2019s not worth it anymore. Just take care of yourself, take care of your health, and your health is the most important thing in the world.\u2019 So most of them were telling me that message, and it was amazing to hear that,\u201d India said.<\/p>\n

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India arrived in Kansas City last season in a trade that sent right-hander Brady Singer to the Reds. He hit .233 with nine homers and 45 RBIs in 136 games last season while dealing with nagging injuries.<\/p>\n

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The Royals kept India by tendering an $8 million contract last November<\/a> to avoid arbitration. He is due to be a free agent after this season.<\/p>\n

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This season, India hit .167 with two homers and eight RBIs in 17 games as the primary second baseman.<\/p>\n

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He plans to \u201ccrush rehab\u201d for the rest of the season and cheer his teammates on.<\/p>\n

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The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native\u2019s impending free agency was a big part of his decision. But he chose to focus on getting healthy and will await what happens after the season in free agency.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m a free agent. What a terrible timing to have the surgery,\u201d India said. \u201cBut I just know that there\u2019s a plan. The Lord has a plan for me, and I\u2019m no use if I\u2019m that badly injured on the field. So why not get healthy, mentally healthy, and be myself again after the surgery, and someone will give me an opportunity. If it\u2019s the Royals, or if it\u2019s not the Royals, I\u2019ll have an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nPJ Green<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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PJ Green is a breaking news reporter for The Star. He previously was a sports reporter for Fox\u2019s Kansas City affiliate and a news reporter for NBC\u2019s Wichita Falls, Texas affiliate. He studied English with a concentration in journalism and played football at Tusculum University. You can reach him at pgreen@kcstar.com or follow him on Twitter and Bluesky – @ByPJGreen<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a procedure five years in the making for Jonathan India. He finally had surgery on his left labrum. Athletes are used to playing hurt. In many cases, it can be required to excel at the professional level. But India, 29, had been playing with shoulder subluxations for five years, since his major league […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2402337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Royals-closer-Carlos-Estevez-starts-Triple-A-rehab-Update.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2404006,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404005\/revisions\/2404006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2402337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}