Considering that Elijah Dukes is only 24 years old and hasn't even played a full season's worth of games in the big leagues, he's already had quite a career. Unfortunately, just about everything Dukes is known for has occured off the field or after games. We're all more than familiar with his text messaging habits, and we also know that Elijah has a problem with his manager from time to time (seriously, just click on his tag and see all the fun he's had).
Lately, though, Elijah has been getting talked about more for the way he's hitting with the Nationals. After getting off to a very slow start to the season, Dukes hit .292 with four homers and 15 RBI in June. He has carried that play into the first week of July as well, as he's currently hitting .368 with two homers and three runs driven in this month. That's why it's such a shame that Dukes hurt his knee making a catch on Saturday, and he's going to be out four to six weeks because of it.
Dukes tore cartilage and partially tore a tendon in his right knee when he slammed into the left-field wall after catching a flyball in the seventh inning. He grabbed his knee and was taken off the field on a cart.
Dukes will have surgery on Monday. The Nationals didn't immediately replace him on the roster.
Let's all just hope that Elijah spends his time off working his way back from this knee injury, and not taking advantage of his unlimited text messaging plan.
