Giants makes injury move before Rockies clash

The San Francisco Giants are coming off a short two-game series against the San Diego Padres, where they lost both contests. SF will now begin a four-game series vs the Colorado Rockies. Ahead of Thursday night’s game against Colorado, the Giants placed infielder Tyler Fitzgerald on the 10-day IL with a rib fracture.

A major reason why Bob Melvin’s squad is performing well is because they have been healthy. Fitzgerald is the only starter now on the IL, and the Giants called up infielder Brett Wisley to fill his void on the active roster. Wisley, Christian Koss, or David Villar could start in his place.

Fitzgerald broke onto the scene last year and was one of the more productive rookies in the National League. He ended last season batting .280 with 15 home runs, 34 RBIs, 17 stolen bases, a .831 OPS, and a 2.1 WAR in 96 games.

The 27-year-old was on his way to having as good of a season, if not better, before the rib fracture. In 25 games, the second baseman is batting .284 with two homers, seven RBIs, has 23 hits, and an OPS of .773.

While his true status is up in the air, he could miss at least two weeks of action. Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth is dealing with a similar injury and has not been back since.

The Giants now take on a favorable opponent with an opportunity to continue to rise in the NL standings. SF is one of baseball’s hottest teams. Even though they are coming off two straight losses, they could still end the weekend in not only first place in the NL West, but the entire league.

Losing a good player to an injury is never easy, but the Giants have been one of those teams for the past few years that perform well despite not having many true stars on the roster.