Cincinnati Reds

Reds reliever reveals embarrassing details of his elbow injury

Published Mar. 24, 2017 1:14 p.m. ET

Chris Bahr

The mystery of Raisel Iglesias’ absence from Grapefruit League action has been solved, though the details of the elbow and back injuries that have sidelined the Cincinnati Reds right-hander since March 14 are far from flattering.

Iglesias, who is competing for the closer job, admitted Thursday that he was injured when he fell in his shower three weeks ago.

"I was taking a shower there, and I just like, did a bad move, and tried to hold with my left [arm] but I couldn't get it underneath [the handlebar] with my right. The opposite, you know," Iglesias said through an interpreter, via MLB.com. "I couldn't have done anything."

Raisel Iglesias

Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Iglesias was one of the few bright spots in a terrible Reds bullpen (5.08 ERA, 102 homers allowed) last season. He posted a 2.53 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 83 strikeouts and six saves in 78.1 innings (32 relief appearances, five starts).

If only he had the same grip on the shower floor as he does on the baseball …