When we last heard from Athletics prospect Dustin Fowler, he was suing the White Sox and the Illinois Stadium Authority for negligence after sustaining a season-ending injury during a collision at Guaranteed Rate Field during his major league debut. He had run into an unpadded electrical box while chasing a ball, rupturing his patellar tendon. Didn’t even get a chance to make his first plate appearance.
Fowler was a Yankees prospect at the time the injury took place, but the Yankees traded him to the A’s in the Sonny Gray deal at last year’s trade deadline. When he went down he was hitting .293/.329/.542 in 70 games at Triple-A. Since he’s come back from his injury he (a) almost made the A’s out of spring training; and (b) is hitting .310/.333/.484 with three homers in 30 games down at Nashville. Today, however, the A’s called him up. He’ll likely get a lot of time in the A’s outfield going forward.
As for the lawsuit, the last information I could find, from February, suggested it had not been settled. Assuming it’s still going forward, maybe he can sit for his deposition when the A’s visit the White Sox for their four-game series at Guaranteed Rate June 21-24.
UPDATE: Yep, the lawsuit is still going on. Short version: they’re still having procedural battles about where the case should be head:
@craigcalcaterra Dustin Fowler lawsuit: the White Sox removed the case from state to federal court, then made a motion to dismiss on the ground the claims are preempted by the LMRA , Fowler made a motion to remand, the motions are pending as of May 4
— Bruce (@BrucieG1948) May 9, 2018
