Cardinals Breakout Star Is Dealing With Uncommon Injury

The St. Louis Cardinals' offense has been pretty good so far this season and one of the biggest reasons why has been the play of Brendan Donovan.

Donovan has been good for the Cardinals over the last three years but has taken his game to a completely different level so far this season. He has appeared in 23 games for the Cardinals and is slashing .356/.392/533 with three home runs, 13 RBIs, three stolen bases, five walks, and a league-best 32 base hits.

He also has provided the stellar defense all over the diamond the team has come to expect from him.

Donovan clearly is off to the best start of his career and already has 1.4 wins above replacement. But, he was scratched from the team's contest on Tuesday because a "rib head popped out," according to MLB.com's John Denton.

"Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said Brendan Donovan was scratched from tonight’s lineup because a rib head popped out of place this morning," Denton said. "Soreness will make Donovan unavailable tonight and his availability is in question for Wednesday. An IL stint is unlikely, Marmol said...

"Donovan (rib) being unavailable tonight and questionable on Wednesday played a role in the Cardinals keeping 2B/SS Thomas Saggese on the roster when SS Masyn Winn was activated, Marmol said. The Cards don’t expect Donovan to miss time past Wednesday, the manager said."

He unsurprisingly isn't scheduled to be in Wednesday's lineup. If he were to miss time beyond that, it could spell trouble for St. Louis.