Well, that’s not what you want to see!
The San Francisco Giants announced that Tyler Fitzgerald has landed on the 10-day IL with “a left rib fracture,” prompting the recall of IF/OF Brett Wisely from Sacramento.
Fitzgerald took a fastball off the thigh against Michael King in the top of the 6th inning of yesterday’s loss and turned a double play in the bottom of the 8th but finished the game. It’s possible the injury didn’t even occur yesterday — edit: Yes, it appears this happened during the Rangers series. Per Shayna Rubin:
He’d missed a few games with a chest contusion he got diving for a ball in a game against the Rangers.
His power-speed combo makes him one of the most talented Giants on paper, and despite a collapse at the end of last season following an eye-opening hot streak, he actually got into a groove here in the early going. From the Yankees series through the Brewers series he was 15-for-41 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, a triple, 2 stolen bases, and 4 walks against 10 strikeouts. Good enough for a .366/.422/.610 triple slash. His season line sits at .284/.341/.432, and now we know he’s got plenty of grit, having played in a couple of games after cracking a rib.
The move creates a real opportunity for supposed 26th man Christian Koss. Alex Pavlovic speculates that he will probably get a lot of time at second base now, even though Brett Wisely as a left-handed bat makes more sense from a traditional platoon situation. Wisely was hitting .235/.325/.431 with the River Cats (118 PA) so I guess I see why that would be the case. Those are not good numbers for a 26 year old in the Pacific Coast League. Koss, meanwhile, has played solid defense up the middle and seen 3.88 pitches per plate appearance, which is perfectly average.
He’s also provided a relief appearance in the first month of the season. He makes another appearance, he’ll become eligible for our Bullpen Trust Power Rankings. On the other hand, this might be his time to shine. Fitzgerald had his break out last season at 26, and now Koss has a chance to pull a Fitzgerald here in his age-27 season. He’s not quite the same power-speed threat, but he does provide more contact and possibly better defense. Still, the Giants lineup has struggled over the past couple of weeks (85 wRC+ since April 16th) and losing Fitzgerald is significant.
A fractured rib takes about six weeks to heal on its own. Who knows where the Giants will be then. Here’s hoping for a speedy and complete recovery for Tyler Fitzgerald.