By Damon Knight, Tribune Correspondent
On Tuesday, Detroit Tigers outfielder JaCoby Jones suffered a left-hand fracture against the Milwaukee Brewers and is out for the season. The injury occurred during the eighth inning when Brewers rookie Phil Bickford hit Jones square on the hand with a fastball at 92 mph. He would immediately drop to his knees and begin to swell up. Tigers coach Ron Gardenhire said,
“It was not a pretty sight,” Gardenhire said. “It was a lot of different colors. He got squared pretty hard with about a 92 mph fastball.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers went on to beat the Brewers by a final score of 12-1. As for Jones, he would finish the 2020 campaign with a batting average of .268, five home runs, and 14 RBIs in 30 games. Unfortunately, this is the second time the 28-year-old has had a season-ending injury. In August of 2019, Jones was hit by a pitch on his left wrist in a game against Kansas City. He would sustain a fracture and only play in 10 games that season. Gardenhire said,
“I feel bad for JaCoby,” Gardenhire said. “He was making strides in his game, becoming a pretty good player. And now we lose him, so that’s too bad.”
Detroit’s expected recovery time for Jones is six weeks. As for his replacement in centerfield, the Tigers are placing Victor Reyes in centerfield and calling up prospect Derek Hill to fill in at left.
Twitter handle: @DamonKn1993
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