Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa leaves game with jammed thumb

Astros’ Carlos Correa leaves the game with a jammed thumb.

The Houston Astros hopefully avoid a serious injury to their starting shortstop. After making the All-Star game for the first time in his career, Carlos Correa leaves during his fourth game back from the break. In the fourth inning, Correa was at the plate with a 1-1 count with the Astros trailing 4-2. It did not look pretty.

No, he was not hit by the pitch. He swung and missed at the pitch. Meanwhile, something happened in his back swing. As soon as he followed through, he held his left arm behind his back in pain. The pain caused his hand to slip off the bat.

A non-contact injury could be the scariest things for any athlete. Especially when it is in the hand for a hitter. The trainer was looking at his left hand/wrist area when he left. Marwin Gonzalez went into strikeout and played shortstop in place of Correa.

The news.

Astros Twitter were on pins and needles until Jake Kaplan and Geoff Blum announced that it was a jammed thumb. He will be evaluated tomorrow, and they will decide what to do from there. He is day to day now. Hopefully, it looked worse than it was.

While there could be more to it, a jammed thumb is not a severe injury concern. People always say they wish Gonzalez would become the starter at x-position, but now he can cover short while Correa is out.

We won’t know much until tomorrow. Something to take note of is that Julia Morales pointed out that it was the same thumb he hurt in Atlanta on July 4. missing the next game. He injured the thumb sliding into home plate in that game. With his swing today, he could have reaggravated the injury.

Gonzalez can replace Correa for the short-term, but it’s hard to replace a bat like Correa. He is batting .320 with 20 homers, 67 RBI, and a .966 OPS. Gonzalez is having a career year, but that takes a big hitter out of the lineup. According to Kaplan, Correa told reporters after the game that he has been dealing with pain the last couple of days. He hoped it would get better over the break.

Next: Astros: Collin McHugh starts in AA and will return this weekend

Depending on the severity, it could be better in a week or less. Last time this happened, Correa missed one game on July 5th. The Astros might be a little more cautious this time around.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***