Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

As Locastro attempted to make the catch, he braced for impact with the wall in the left-field corner. He jumped and when he came down, he landed awkwardly on his right leg. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone and a team trainer ran out to check on him. He walked with a noticeable limp but remained in the game. 

"When it happened, it felt extremely tight," Locastro recalled in an interview with Ë®¹ûÅÉAV. "I thought I could finish the inning. I finished the inning and then I went down to try to go swing the bat a little bit to see if I was going to be able to. It must have swelled up in those five to 10 minutes from the inning ending to when I went down into the tunnel to swing. I couldn't put any pressure on it." 

Boone pulled Locastro from the game. The Yankees announced that Locastro had been examined by team doctors and was sent to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for further evaluation. 

An MRI revealed that Locastro tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. More than two weeks after he was acquired by the Yankees, his season was over. 

"It was just a freak accident, a freak injury," Locastro said. But, he quickly added, "I made the catch, though, which is pretty cool. Especially in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, that was pretty cool." 

The diagnosis meant Locastro would need surgery to repair the torn ACL in his knee — the first stop on the road to recovery for the 29-year-old Auburn native. The day after injuring his knee, he began prehabilitation to prepare for surgery. 

Over the next few days, the exercises and therapy ensured that the knee would be strengthened before surgery. He had surgery to repair the tear on July 21. 

The rehabilitation process began shortly after surgery. Locastro says he is now able to walk on his own and started lifting.

"Things are progressing well," he said. "It's just a long, slow rehab. But it's going well." 

The recovery from an ACL tear can take up to a year for some athletes. Because of the severity of the injury, it requires a long rehabilitation period. 

Locastro admitted that he set an ambitious goal for his rehab. He was injured in July. At that point, the World Series was three months away. If the Yankees advance to the World Series, he wants to play. For the kid from Auburn who grew up a Yankees fan, it would fulfill a lifelong dream. 

"If I can run, I'm going to try to be out there," he said. "We gotta make the World Series first." As of Thursday, the Yankees have a half-game lead for the final American League wild-card spot. 

His main target is to be ready by spring training. He has been told that he should have more than enough time to be at full strength when spring training opens in February. 

Locastro praised the Yankees for supporting him throughout his rehabilitation. He works out at Yankee Stadium, so he is able to join his teammates in the dugout. 

"I still want to play baseball every day. It sucks not being able to," he said. "But just being around my teammates and coaches, they've really helped out a lot." 

Locastro found another silver lining. Because he now plays for the Yankees, he has been able to rehab closer to home. If he was with one of his prior teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks or Los Angeles Dodgers, he would've spent the bulk of his time on the West Coast. 

He has received a lot of support from family and friends, many of whom are in Auburn. Every day, somebody new calls or texts to check in and see how he's doing. 

Even though he's not playing, his schedule hasn't changed much. The rehab process is seven days a week, he says. But it's important to ensure that he can get back on the field for the 2022 season. 

"I really haven't had any off days," Locastro said. "There is tissue work and stimulation to be done. There's always something to do. I'm going to be ready for spring training."