Diamondbacks catcher Jeff Mathis has been diagnosed with a fractured right hand, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports on Twitter. He suffered the injury in last night’s game; initially it was believed he had escaped any broken bones.
It’s not yet known how long Mathis is expected to miss, but this seems like a fairly significant injury. It’s an avulsion fracture, per Piecoro, meaning that the ligament pulled away some amount of bone. (That seemingly makes it all the more impressive that Mathis initially stayed in the game.)
Whether or not surgery is required, the veteran receiver figures to miss a decent stretch. With Arizona fighting to keep a hold on a Wild Card, while also looking ahead to a hoped-for postseason berth, the club will need to figure out how to fill in for Mathis.
It’s possible that the D-Backs will simply utilize the open roster spot to address some other area of need, as the club does carry three players capable of lining up behind the dish. Chris Herrmann has seen plenty of action at catcher while also playing first base and the corner outfield. Then again, he hasn’t hit nearly as much as he did last year, with a .158/.250/.321 batting line that falls shy of the work of even the light-hitting Mathis. Arizona also recently acquired John Ryan Murphy, though he has struggled to get his bat going at Triple-A this year.
JR left his hitting ability in New York.
I really do feel for him. That trade got us Hicksy…. that’s baseball!
This could really affect the pitching staff
Agreed. Will probably have more of an affect on Greinke and co. than it will on the offense.
Interestingly, both Hermann and Murphy were with the Minnesota Twins organization before getting traded to Arizona. It is yet to be determined if either team “won” either trade.
Are they any available catchers to acquire on the waiver wire?
Come get Kurt Suzuki perfect time to
My thinking exactly don’t think we will get anything good for Suzuki but you never know
Suzuki would probably be available for a very cheap price and should help Arizona if they acquired him.
Twinkies got a decent return from AZ for the 2 catchers they shipped to the Diamondbacks anda least AZ had a good year last year out of Herrmann.
Cameron Rupp is available in Philadelphia.
Sosh would still start him if he were still an Angel.
I’m not sure about any offensive stats but the dbacks are carrying mathis and ianetta for their defensive metrics and herrmann for his versatility. Everyone suggesting Suzuki probably has his offense in mind and that has never been important to the dbacks new front office. Every double and every homerun (even mathis’ triple on opening day) from their catchers have been an absolute bonus.
A little further, although brief, research has both Mathis and Iannetta in the top 12 in pitch framing ability, while Suzuki is rated number 72. With the front office’s mindset we would be interested in a braves catcher named Flowers who happens to rank number 1 in pitch framing this year.
link to statcorner.com
but then again, I know nothing
Every little league coach should use this example of why you should put your off hand behind your back/butt/thigh while catching.