Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton out 4-6 weeks with broken bone in left wrist
MIAMI -- An already disappointing Miami Marlins season took a darker turn thanks to the contents of a text message sent by head athletic trainer Sean Cunningham at 1 a.m. Saturday.
It read that slugger Giancarlo Stanton sustained a left wrist hamate fracture.
Stanton will meet with medical director Dr. Lee Kaplan, M.D., and a hand specialist, on Saturday to determine the best course of action, according to manager Dan Jennings. The first prognosis calls for 4-6 weeks of recovery time with a likelihood of surgery.
A two-time All-Star, Stanton was in line to start next month's Midsummer Classic. He leads the majors with 27 home runs and 67 RBI. He appeared in all but one of Miami's first 75 games.
"We've lost five in a row, so that is certainly not where we want to be and then you lose your bat in the middle of the order that's leading baseball in home runs and RBI," Jennings said before Saturday's batting practice. "Now it's upon us to pick it up. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. Injuries unfortunately are a part of the game and we have to step it up. You know what? It would be easy if you want to toss in the towel right now or we’re going to find out what kind of fighters we have and how we step up. It's going to change a little bit on how we have to play the game because you can't sit back and wait on the big man to hit the two-, three-run homer. At the same time there’s still a lot of baseball to be played and we’re going to have to step up and find a way."
Stanton felt pain during his at-bats on Friday night, particularly on his ninth-inning strikeout with swings and misses and "just on a swing my bat dug into my hand a little bit." Two days in a row, Stanton shattered a bat. Afterwards while talking with the media, he said his "level of concern will be when I know exactly what's up"and that the pain got progressively worse during the game.
When Jennings spoke to Stanton after the game, the 25-year-old right fielder had just finished icing his hand and there was swelling.
According to Medscape, hamate fractures account for 2 percent of all carpal fractures but have increased with the popularity of sport activities involving racquets, bats and clubs. The hamate bone is a triangular-shaped bone composed of both a body and a hook. Injuries can be caused by repeated micro trauma, direct trauma or indirect trauma.
FYI hamate info via Medscape. #Giancarlo #Stanton #Marlins #MLB pic.twitter.com/iHAg10aKa0
— Christina De Nicola (@CDeNicola13) June 27, 2015
"He knew," Jennings said. "These guys know their bodies better than anyone and he knew that something was not right. He didn't know exactly what, but just in the conversation he knew that there was something wrong."
Marlins closer A.J. Ramos, who also lives with Stanton, said Stanton didn't act any differently when he left the ballpark last night.
"His mood is always normal," Ramos said. "Whether he does good or bad he's pretty much the same person. We went to dinner and did normal things last night and he seemed like he was -- there's nothing you can do about it. He found out what the problem is, now he can go forward to fix it in rehab. That's the attitude he's taking."
Stanton, who signed a record 13-year, $325 million contract in the offseason, has had injuries cost him during his career. He underwent right knee surgery that kept him out of the 2012 All-Star Game and until August. In 2013, it was a right hamstring strain that forced him to miss a month.
Last season, he got hit in the face by a fastball that caused multiple facial fractures and lacerations that required surgery. Despite missing the final 17 games he still finished second in the NL Most Valuable Player voting.
His absence is a huge blow to a lineup losing 44 percent of its homer total. Stanton accounted for 27 of the 62 long balls. First baseman Justin Bour ranks second on the team with six homers. The offense has mustered just 18 runs over its past nine games amounting to eight losses.
Center fielder Marcell Ozuna, who was penciled in Stanton's cleanup spot on Saturday, has underachieved this season with just four homers and 26 RBI. In 2014, he finished second and first, respectively, among NL center fielders in dingers (23) and RBI (85) despite missing the last week of the season.
"I'm going to have to play good and help the team as much as I can," Ozuna said. "The way things are going --we're not doing good or scoring runs ... everything is not going like we thought."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
