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Orioles' Hardy has fractured right wrist

The Star Democrat - 6/20/2017

BALTIMORE (TNS) The Orioles, hit hard by injuries this season, are now set to be without veteran shortstop J.J. Hardy, who is headed to the disabled list with a fractured right wrist after getting hit by a pitch Sunday.

Hardy, 34, had an X-ray after leaving Sunday's game. Just like last year, when he suffered a fractured foot on a foul ball, the X-ray showed it was more than a bruise.

A CT scan Monday revealed a non-displaced fracture of a small bone in his wrist, Hardy said. He will need 4-6 weeks of rest to allow the bone to heal before he can resume baseball activities.

Hardy joins first baseman Chris Davis, who is out at least a month with a strained right oblique, infielder Ryan Flaherty (shoulder), and pitchers Darren O'Day (shoulder) and Zach Britton (forearm) on the disabled list. The Orioles have also dealt with two separate absences for starting catcher Welington Castillo, and short spells without second baseman Jonathan Schoop, third baseman Manny Machado, center fielder Adam Jones, and right fielder Seth Smith at one point or another - and that's just the position players.

On the pitching side, they were without right-hander Chris Tillman (shoulder) for the first month of the season.

This makes it three straight years that Hardy has lost significant time to injury, all since signing a three-year contract extension during the team's 2014 playoff run. In 2015, he missed the first month of the season with a shoulder injury that was revealed at season's end to be a torn labrum. He rehabbed that and was back to full health before fouling a ball off his foot and fracturing it last May 2, and now the wrist fracture this year.

Hardy was batting .211/.248/.308 on the year at the time of the injury, with perhaps the high-water mark of his season coming Saturday when he doubled twice and drove in three runs in a win over the Cardinals at Camden Yards.

Last year when Hardy was injured, Machado moved to shortstop full-time and third base was covered by Ryan Flaherty and Paul Janish. Flaherty, too, is on the disabled list with a shoulder issue. The Orioles could add Janish from Triple-A.

But the primary beneficiary seems to be infielder Ruben Tejada, who can play all three infield positions and may have the glove at shortstop to keep Machado from sliding over. Hardy's presence has long been considered a stabilizing one defensively in the Orioles infield, in between a young Machado and young Schoop.

Tejada, however, gives the Orioles the defense they covet in a reserve player while also proving able to handle the bat. He has five hits in 20 at-bats this season, and is a career .252 hitter over parts of seven major league seasons, mostly with the New York Mets.

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