Injury Notes: Belt, Indians, Molina, C. Martinez, DeJong

During the third inning of last night’s game, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt was forced to make an early exit due to appendicitis symptoms (h/t Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports). He was rushed to the hospital to be evaluated, and this morning posted a picture of himself on Twitter, still there. Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group reports that Belt had an appendectomy late last night and is expected to leave the hospital this afternoon. It’s worth noting that players have been able to return from such procedures in as little as two weeks, but that’s surely not much consolation for a San Francisco ballclub that’s seen a small army of players spend time on the DL already this season, including Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Alen Hanson, Mac Williamson, Mark Melancon, Joe Panik and Hunter Pence. Belt’s absence will be one of the largest blows yet, considering his 160 wRC+ and .402 wOBA are practically carrying the team’s offense of late. We’ll continue to monitor this situation and wait for updates as to Belt’s status.

Other injury news from around baseball…

• The Indians have myriad outfielders close to returning from the DL, or, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian puts it, “Decision Day is Tuesday and there are only so many seats to be had in this game of musical chairs.” Only two short weeks ago, it would have seemed as though Greg Allen was ticketed for Triple-A upon Bradley Zimmer’s return from the DL, but Allen’s fantastic play of late and defensive value may force the Tribe to make some difficult decisions when Lonnie Chisenhall and Brandon Guyer are activated. Michael Brantley is, of course, a lock to keep his spot, while Zimmer and Chisenhall seem likely to remain on the active roster as well. Rajai Davis, Melky Cabrera and Guyer have combined to post -1.1 fWAR on the season, and one has to wonder how Davis in particular will survive the roster crunch with Allen playing so well.
• Elsewhere on MLB.com, Joe Trezza reports that the Cardinals plan to have catcher Yadier Molina and right-hander Carlos Martinez back on Tuesday. Molina’s reportedly scheduled for a two-game rehab assignment, while Martinez already made one four-inning rehab start after missing three weeks with a a lat strain. On the other hand, Trezza tweets, shortstop Paul DeJong is a bit further away from a return. He’s been cleared to perform everyday activities with the hand that was broken in a hit-by-pitch incident on May 18th. However, he won’t start exercising the hand until next week, and won’t perform any baseball activities with it for about two weeks.