JaCoby Jones Out for Season
Detroit Tigers center fielder JaCoby Jones will miss the rest of the 2020 season after fracturing his left hand Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers. This injury comes as a huge blow to a team in the middle of an American League playoff chase. On the season, Jones was batting .268 with five home runs and 14 RBI.
“Really unfortunate,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It is part of the game, but this is a guy who was starting to really take off. He was playing really well. But he will rebound from this. It’s just going to be a bummer from here on out (this season).”
The Injury
The injury occurred in the eighth inning with Detroit leading 6-1. Jones led off the inning against Phil Bickford, who was making his MLB debut, and was hit by a 90 mph fastball on his left hand. Jones was removed from the game after a discussion with head athletic trainer Doug Teter.
“It was not a pretty sight,” Gardenhire said. “[His hand] was a lot of different colors. He got squared pretty hard with about a 92 mph fastball”
This was not the first time that Jones has had his season ended on a hit by pitch. Just last season, he was placed on the injured list and would not return after being hit on the elbow against the Kansas City Royals. In 2017, he missed some time after being hit in the face by a pitch against the Minnesota Twins.
Tigers Promote Derek Hill
The Tigers have promoted former first-round pick Derek Hill to replace Jones in center field. The 24-year-old is considered to be a “game-changing defender with excellent speed.” Although Hill hasn’t been extremely productive offensively in his minor league career, Detroit will hope that he can take advantage of this opportunity and help the team to their first playoff berth since 2014.
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