Red Sox center fielder Adam Duvall Diagnosed with a distal radius fracture in his left wrist, director Alex Cora announced to reporters Monday (Twitter link Via Ian Brown from MLB.com). He will be placed on the 10-day injured list for now, with the expectation that he will miss several weeks of action. The team does not yet have an exact timeline for his expected recovery, although Cora told reporters that Duval will not need surgery (Via House of Abraham from The Boston Globe). player Bobby Dalbeck from Triple-A Worcester in place of Duvall, and Utman Rob Refsnyder Tonight’s game started in midfield.
Duvall came out of yesterday’s game after playing a dunk in the outfield, and it looked like he injured the same left wrist he had season-ending surgery a year ago. Not only was he the hottest bat for the Red Sox, but he was also one of the hottest bats in all of baseball, opening the season with a .455/.514/1.030 hitting streak and four home runs in 37 trips to the plate.
While no one can be expected to continue at this pace — Duvall is a . 233/. 292/. 472 career hitter — there were still some encouraging wins in the early season showing. Duvall’s 25.6% chase rate on plate pitches is the lowest in his career and a 10-percentage-point improvement over his career mark, and his touchdown rate of 85.5% dwarfs his career mark of 74.2%. Not surprisingly, given the early improvements in his approach, Duvall’s strike rate of 13.5% is less than half of his career 28.3%.
With Duvall sidelined, it is likely that Revsnyder will fall to W.J Rimmel Tapia To manage things in the center field. Refsnyder would get first crack that night, with the Sox facing left handed Jalen Bix On a date tonight with the undefeated Rays. Going forward, it’s reasonable to expect the left-handed Tapia to get the majority of looks on the larger half of what appears to be a traditional platoon. If the Sox wanted to convert Enrique Hernandez From the pitch to the pitch, he’ll be another option in the middle.
The injury is difficult for Duvall not only because it will derail his hot start but also because of the nature of his contract. Duvall is a free agent after the season, having signed a one-year, $7 million contract over the winter and was hoping for a healthy and productive campaign for a multi-year deal next winter. His contract also contains incentives up to $3 million based on plate appearance. Duvall earns a $500,000 bonus for reaching each of the 350, 400, 450 and 500 plate appearances, as well as a $1 million bonus for reaching 550 trips to the plate. Duvall’s broken wrist assures he won’t make it to the top end of the bonus structure, though depending on how fast he returns, he can still make it to those first two milestones.
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