The Kansas City Royals announced Saturday that they have placed third basemen Mike Moustakas on the 15-day disabled list with a thumb injury which occurred last week at Anaheim. Moustakas, who has not started in three of the past four games, has a fractured left thumb. The sesamoid fracture–where the thumb and palm meet– was detected on Monday. Moustakas however, wanted to try and play through it. He’s hitting .258 with seven home runs and 13 RBI in 25 games.
Depending on the severity of the fracture, the Royals could be looking at Moustakas being out of the lineup for a month or more. Indians catcher Roberto Perez had surgery on a fractured thumb this week and is expected to be out 8-12 weeks. Braves infielder Phil Gosselin fractured his thumb last year and missed three months following surgery. In 2009, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner missed one and a half months with a broken thumb.
The Royals have recalled infielder Cheslor Cuthbert from Triple-A Omaha to take Moustakas’ place on the roster. Cuthbert played in 19 games for Kansas City last season. He’s having an excellent year, currently hitting .333 with seven home runs and 28 RBI in 24 games with the Omaha Stormchasers. Regardless, an injury to one of the few offensively productive players on this team right now is not the remedy to their present woes. Moustakas was leading the team in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and was second in adjusted runs created behind Eric Hosmer.
Moustakas has a “sesamoid fracture” where the thumb and palm meet. It was detected on Monday. Moose wanted to try to play through it.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) May 7, 2016
Main Photo, Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals celebrates with teammates. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
