The Cleveland Indians are in the middle of two races to reach the Postseason, both through the Central Division and the American League Wild Card. They would still be in as a Wild Card today, despite their extra-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, but they took a much larger blow this past weekend. Just as third baseman Jose Ramirez was getting red hot to overcome his early season struggles, a hit by pitch to the hand may have him out for a while. He was placed on the 10-day injured list on Sunday with a fracture in his right hand, which he will undergo surgery for on Monday. There is no official timetable for his return following this injury.
Ramirez suffered the injury in the first inning of Saturday's game, when a pitch came up and in on him. He tried to stay in the game, but after fouling off a pitch, he was unable to stay in the game. Indians manager Terry Francona claimed that Ramirez had been dealing with wrist soreness for a while, but this is a different injury.
Mike Freeman took over for Ramirez in that game and finished with two hits and an RBI on the day. The team went on to call up infielder Yu Chang from Triple-A Columbus.
League doctors claim that this type of injury normally takes about a month to heal, which would have Ramirez back at the tail end of the regular season, or beginning of the Postseason, if Cleveland is involved. The switch-hitter has been on fire in the second half of the season, ranking second in the majors with 32 extra-base hits and third with 40 RBIs in that time. The 26-year-old is a two-time All-Star and is now batting .254 with 20 home runs and 75 RBIs in 126 games. He hopes to be back for his team, who trails the Twins by 2.5 games in the Central, but hold the top Wild Card spot by a half game on the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ramirez suffered the injury in the first inning of Saturday's game, when a pitch came up and in on him. He tried to stay in the game, but after fouling off a pitch, he was unable to stay in the game. Indians manager Terry Francona claimed that Ramirez had been dealing with wrist soreness for a while, but this is a different injury.
Mike Freeman took over for Ramirez in that game and finished with two hits and an RBI on the day. The team went on to call up infielder Yu Chang from Triple-A Columbus.
League doctors claim that this type of injury normally takes about a month to heal, which would have Ramirez back at the tail end of the regular season, or beginning of the Postseason, if Cleveland is involved. The switch-hitter has been on fire in the second half of the season, ranking second in the majors with 32 extra-base hits and third with 40 RBIs in that time. The 26-year-old is a two-time All-Star and is now batting .254 with 20 home runs and 75 RBIs in 126 games. He hopes to be back for his team, who trails the Twins by 2.5 games in the Central, but hold the top Wild Card spot by a half game on the Tampa Bay Rays.
