No, David Price isn't headed to the disabled list for a Fortnite.
The Red Sox left-hander, scratched from Wednesday night's start at Yankee Stadium because of carpal tunnel syndrome, didn't quite declare a cause-and-effect relationship between the condition and his hobby of playing video games including Fortnite. Still, he made it sound like a contributing factor, saying that he would stop playing it at the ballpark.
"If [playing video games] was the cause of the problem, then it started back in 1997 when I got my first PlayStation when I was 12 years old," Price said. "I've always played video games: played it with my teammates in the offseason, at the field, at the hotel. That's my generation. That's what we do.
"If I need to shut down video games and pick up a new hobby, then so be it. But I do not think that's the cause."
Price was scratched after he felt numbness in his thumb and first two fingers in a bullpen session. He rejoined the Sox on Thursday after undergoing a thorough battery of tests in Boston and, following a bullpen session before the series finale with the Yanks, was written in to start Saturday in Toronto. He said that, following tests on his shoulder and elbow, doctors described both joints as "pristine."
His wrist will have to be managed. He said he will sleep with a brace on it and get "dry needle" _ something he compared to acupuncture _ to keep down the inflammation in his wrist that presses on the nerves that go to his hand and fingers.
Price pitched 14 scoreless innings over his first two starts but now stands at 2-4 with a 5.11 ERA.
"This is a spot I've always had to have worked out. It got a lot worse and real aggressive _ more than it ever had. It's something we can take care of," Price said.
"I [was born] in 1985, so that's the video game generation," he added. "Being a Red Sox, this is the least amount of video games I've ever played. Being in Major League Baseball, it's a very common thing, especially with my generation. It's when the video games really took off. This is not something that just happened this year."
