Blue Jays minor leaguer Matt Shannon gives injured teammate Christian Williams a lift

We often hear about teammates figuratively picking each other up but we don’t often see them literally doing so.

While playing for the Lansing Lugnuts last Thursday, Blue Jays minor league first baseman Christian Williams injured his leg on a ground out when he tried to avoid a tag and is now heading for surgery.

Before Williams headed to Florida for the procedure, the Lugnuts’ right handed pitcher Matt Shannon took the effort to carry his teammate up several flights of stairs every night to get him home.

The hashtag #WebsterAward may refer to the R. Howard Webster Awards, which was presented to the Most Valuable Player on each Blue Jays minor league affiliate from 1982 through 2015. The club has not presented the award since.

Before the injury, Williams was hitting well, slashing .285/.341/.463 with four homers and 10 doubles over 32 games. I hope that he’s able to get the procedure done, rehab, and get back on the field later this summer.

Meanwhile, it seems that the Lugnuts have been cursed by the injury bug over the past week. Beside Williams, Lansing has lost three players to the disabled list in the past seven days: outfielder Reggie Pruitt ran into a wall on Monday, catcher Javier Hernandez hurt himself (successfully) throwing out a runner who had attempted to steal second base on Wednesday, and starting pitcher Graham Spraker being scratched ahead of his expected start on Friday.