HOUSTON -- Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel has been wearing a protective walking boot as a precautionary measure on his left foot for the past few weeks after suffering a minor foot sprain, the team confirmed Sunday. The injury shouldn't be a problem for Keuchel's offseason workout regimen.
TMZ Sports reported late Saturday that the former American League Cy Young Award winner was wearing a walking boot while leaving a West Hollywood, Calif., restaurant. When asked by TMZ Sports how he injured the foot, Keuchel said in a video while exiting the restaurant that he "slipped and fell, man … in the parade," before getting into the passenger seat of a car and driving away.
The Astros beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 1 in Los Angeles and held a parade through downtown Houston two days later.
Keuchel, 29, went 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA for the Astros in the regular season and missed more than two months with a neck injury. He was named to the AL All-Star team after going 9-0 with a 1.67 ERA in the first half of the season. He made five starts in the playoffs and was 2-2 with a 3.58 ERA, including 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA in two World Series starts.
In 2015, Keuchel won the AL Cy Young Award following a season in which he was 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA in 232 innings pitched. The lefty is entering his final season prior to free agency and will likely make more than $12 million in arbitration if the Astros don't sign him to an extension beforehand.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, speaking Friday after the club non-tendered pitcher Mike Fiers, said the club could explore multiyear contracts with some of its eight arbitration-eligible players, a group that includes Keuchel.