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The Kansas City Royals will be without outfielder for between 2-6 weeks due to his injured thumb, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. The question for DeJesus is whether his injured digit will require surgery: if it does, he'll likely be out a full six weeks, while if rest and rehab are enough to get it back to health, he could be back on the field by the beginning of August.
DeJesus injured himself crashing into the fall during a failed attempt to catch a fly ball against the Yankees on Thursday (that resulted in an inside-the-park homer for Derek Jeter). DeJesus' glove smashed into the padding on the wall, snapping his wrist and apparently spraining his thumb.
Losing DeJesus -- whose .384 OBP leads the Royals -- is certainly a blow for Kansas City, and the timing of his injury makes a potential trade harder to pull off with the July 31st, non-waiver trade deadline rapidly approaching.
Following David DeJesus' encounter with the Yankees' outfield wall, the Royals have announced that his injury is a sprained right thumb. The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton tweets:
#Royals say OF David DeJesus suffered a sprained right thumb by slamming into wall on Derek Jeter's inside-the-park homer
DeJesus is expected to miss the remainder of the Royals' four-game series against the Yankees, and though a decision has not been announced, a sprained thumb is certainly capable of landing a player on the 15-day disabled list.
For more on DeJesus and the Royals, check out SB Nation's own Royals Review.
On Thursday night, Royals outfielder David DeJesus left the game after attempting to make a catch against Yankee Stadium's outfield wall. The injury occurred in the bottom of the third inning, when Derek Jeter smashed a ball to the wall. DeJesus put his glove on the ball, but immediately ran it against a padded beam, apparently rolling his wrist. Here's how it looked on YES Network's broadcast:
DeJesus dropped the ball, and as a consequence, Jeter raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
DeJesus, an offensive bright spot for the Royals in 2010, is having a career year -- he entered Thursday's game with a .386 on-base percentage. There's no official word yet on DeJesus' injury. For updates, stay tuned to this StoryStream, and for more on the Royals, check out Royals Review.
David DeJesus To Have Surgery On Thumb, Miss Rest Of 2010 Season
Bad news became worse news, and worse news became the worst news as David DeJesus' thumb injury is a good deal worse than was initially feared:
So much for the 2-6 week timetable. While this obviously makes little meaningful difference to the Royals in the short-term, it does take DeJesus off the market as a trade possibility, preventing the Royals from reloading with a few prospects, and preventing interested teams from pulling the trigger. What'll be interesting now is seeing how the market for other outfielders like Corey Hart changes in response.
The Royals promoted Alex Gordon from AAA to fill DeJesus' roster spot. Gordon had been destroying the ball with Omaha, and was overdue to return to the bigs.
Jul 23 4:32p by Jeff Sullivan - 0 comments