Cal Ripken Jr. may have ownership of the “Iron Man” nickname, but he might have to lend it to Athletics rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, even for just one day. The rookie do-everything man underwent emergency surgery to repair a ruptured testicle last night, hours after fouling a ball off the region.He managed to play through the injury, if only for an inning.In the fifth inning of the Athletics’ series-opening 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, Kuroda-Grauer fouled a ball directly off his nether region, crumpling to a heap on home plate as a trainer and manager Mark Kotsay tended to him.Unlike most foul-ball incidents, the ball did not ricochet off the ground before hitting Kuroda-Grauer. It was clean contact, through and through.Kuroda-Grauer eventually rose to his feet, took a few practice hacks and completed his at-bat, notching a single.
Joshua Kuroda-Grauer left Monday's game due to a testicular contusion.pic.twitter.com/Ow4a9jk3uB
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) July 21, 2026“It looks like he will come up with no balls and one strike,” A’s play-by-play man Chris Caray said in a now-viral call of the injury.The next half-inning, Kuroda-Grauer returned to man third base, all with a ruptured testicle. He was eventually replaced at third in the bottom of the sixth, his night ending with a 2-for-3 line, including his first big-league homer and one major injury.The former third-round pick out of Rutgers is “resting comfortably,” per a release from the club.Just one month ago, New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. found himself in a similar situation, ultimately leaving mid-at-bat because of how unbearable the pain was. In Chisholm’s case, the ball ricocheted off the ground first, perhaps a saving grace for being able to avoid major injury.Kuroda-Grauer’s injury joins a long line of similar testicular misfortunes throughout the annals of MLB history.In 2009, Adrián Beltré infamously took a ground ball to his own lower half, and like Kuroda-Grauer, he played through the game, a 14-inning extra-innings affair, also with a serious injury.“When I did it at first it really hurt and that’s when I started thinking … but then even if I wanted (out) we didn’t have an extra infielder,” Beltré said of his decision to stay in the game.Not only did Beltré stick around, he also scored the winning run.“When I look down, after the game, it wasn’t a pretty sight,” Beltré said then. “My testicle got the size of a grapefruit. Thank God it didn’t really damage anything. It took me two weeks. It was a tear. A lot of blood inside, but it didn’t damage anything.”Beltré isn’t the only Mariner to find themselves on the receiving end of a cup check. Ten years after Beltré’s own misfortune, Mitch Haniger suffered a similar injury after fouling a ball off himself, also needing emergency surgery. The original progenitor of the injury is pitcher Josías Manzanillo, also a Mariner, who took a Manny Ramírez line drive to his privates but managed to get the out at first.With Kuroda-Grauer on the IL, the Athletics recalled Max Muncy. Having gone 2-8 over their past 10 games, the injury to Kuroda-Grauer could not come at a more inopportune time. Over his first 16 games, Kuroda-Grauer posted a 175 OPS+, with a whopping 25 hits in 62 plate appearances.
