Report: Kevin Kiermaier to miss two months with a fractured hip - MLB

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier has a hairline fracture in his right hip and will miss at least two months. The team has not yet confirmed, but it’s pretty rare that the Rays beat from the Times gets that stuff wrong.

Kiermaier injured his hip sliding into first base during the fifth inning of yesterday’s 7-5 win over the White Sox. He was forced to leave the game and was on crutches after the game and had tests scheduled for Friday. You can watch the play here if you’re into that sort of thing.

It’s rarely a good idea to slide into first base, with the only usual exception being a situation in which the fielder is pulled off the bag and tries to get the runner with a swipe tag. In this case Kiermaier was in a foot race to the bag with Jose Abreu. It seems that if he just ran through instead of slid he’d have a better shot, but that’s Friday morning quarterbacking I suppose.

In any event, this is a big blow for the Rays. Kiermaier is hitting .258/.329/.408 and has played in every Rays game to date this season. His calling card, of course, is his defense. He’s had a few odd lapses out in center this year, but he’s still one of the best if not the best defenders in baseball, and his absence will be notable.

Bad break.

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Houston Astros star Jose Altuve had surgery Wednesday on his broken right thumb, an injury that occurred in the World Baseball Classic and will significantly delay the second baseman’s 2023 debut.

The Astros announced that the 32-year-old Altuve had the procedure done in Houston and will stay there to begin his rehabilitation, with only one week left in spring training. The Astros will fly there on Sunday following their final Grapefruit League game in Florida, before playing a pair of exhibitions against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, in Texas.

Altuve was hit by a pitch on Saturday while playing for Venezuela in the WBC. He might not be ready to return to the lineup until at least late May. The eight-time All-Star and 2017 American League MVP batted .300 with 103 runs, 28 homers and 18 steals for the World Series champion Astros last season. Mauricio Dubón and David Hensley are the leading candidates to fill in for Altuve at second base.

Altuve isn’t the only Major League Baseball star who was hurt in WBC play, of course. Mets closer Edwin Díaz will miss the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon in his right knee as the freak result of an on-field celebration following a WBC win by the Puerto Rico national team.

BROWN DOWN

The Astros also scratched right-hander Hunter Brown from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Brown, who is ranked by MLB as the organization’s top prospect and competing for the last spot in the rotation, has discomfort in his lower back.

NOT QUITE READY

The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.

Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.

The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.

Speaking of the Mets, Díaz turned 29 on Wednesday – a rather subdued milestone for the right-hander considering his situation. Diaz nonetheless posted in Spanish an upbeat message on his Twitter account, thanking God for another year of life and describing his health as good and his outlook as positive in this initial stage of the roughly eight-month rehabilitation process.