Indians Lose Choo For 8 to 10 Weeks

Added on Jun 29, 2011 by Scott in

MLB

Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo underwent surgery yesterday to repair a broken left thumb and will be sidelined for 8 to 10 weeks. A hand specialist repaired the fracture at the Cleveland Clinic. Choo suffered the injury last Friday after being struck by a pitch from San Francisco’s Jonathan Sanchez.

Manager Manny Acta didn’t sugarcoat losing Choo for a large chunk of the season.

“It’s very tough to find a player of his caliber on any club anyway or in our system, so we’re just going to have to do the best we can and have guys pick up the slack at different positions, have guys play up to their capabilities… There’s no magic wand on this one. We lost a good player and we’re just going to have to move forward without him until he comes back.”

Choo is off to rough start in 2011. His is hitting .244 with five home runs and 28 RBI in 72 games. The 28-year-old native of South Korea has batted .300 or better in three consecutive years and is coming off a productive 2010 in which he set career highs in homers (22), RBI (90) and steals (22).

For all his struggles, Choo had begun to turn his poor play around in the weeks prior to being injured. In his last ten starts, he recorded 10 hits and drew seven walks. Replacing him won’t be easy for Acta.

The trio of Austin Kearns, Travis Buck and Shelley Duncan have been platooning in Choo’s stead and will continue to do so until he returns to the lineup. Neither of them has been effective at the plate. Buck is hitting .227, Duncan .216 and Kearns .194. On the season, they have combined to strikeout 80 times in 291 at bats.

Not much was expected from Cleveland this year after losing over 90 games in 2009 and 2010. However, they are in the thick of the AL playoff race, trailing Detroit by only one game in the Central Division.

Source: ESPN.com