Cardinals rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz will be going on the disabled list after being struck on the hand by a pitch from Marlins right-hander Andrew Cashner on Sunday. Some details from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...
Mozeliak says Aledmys Diaz will go on DL with a hairline fracture. "Likely to be longer than" 15 days. #Cardinals#stlcards
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 1, 2016
Needles to say, this is a serious blow to the Cardinals, who are in the thick of the NL wild card chase. The rookie Diaz, who turned 26 on Monday, is this season batting .312/.376/.518 (138 OPS+) with 14 homers and 25 doubles in 96 games. He's also held down shortstop for most of the entire season. Diaz was named to the NL All-Star team earlier this season.
The consoling news for the Cardinals is that Jhonny Peralta is eligible to come off the DL on Tuesday. As well, Greg Garcia can also provide depth at the position. That said, the loss of Diaz is a damaging one, particularly if the fracture takes well more than two weeks to heel.
By way of reminder, here's the pitch that did it ...
Later that same inning, Carlos Martinez plunked Giancarlo Stanton, which prompted Cashner after the game to toss some shade on the "Cardinal way."
