Fantasy Baseball: Beware Of The Broken Hand Injury

By Muntradamus

When a player breaks his hand in baseball, he is usually out anywhere from 4-8 weeks, the older the player, the slower the bone heels.  Regardless of age, a broken hand or any wrist injury is the worst injury any hitter can face.  Two noteable players that should be returning before the end of the season who broke their hand is:

ALEX RODRIGUEZ – 3B – NYY (Early September)
J.P. ARENCIBIA – C – TOR (Mid September)

The victim of the broken hand injury this season was Jayson Werth.

Jayson Werth (Before Injury): 3 HRs in 27 Games.
Jayson Werth (After Injury): 0 HRs in 19 Games. 

Derrek Lee broke his wrist in 2006 (April), the year after he won MVP hitting 45 HRs in 2005.  The year he broke his Wrist.
*Lee went on to break his hand in 2011, his career is now over. 

Derrek Lee (Before Wrist Injury): 3 HRs in 14 Games. 
Derrek Lee (After Injury): 5 HRs in 36 Games.

*4 of those 5 HRs came in September, the last month of the season. He broke his wrist in April.

Troy Tulowtizki broke his wrist in 2010 (June.)  He ended up with the most epic September in Fantasy Baseball history, he was 26 when the injury happened.

Troy Tulowtizki (Before Wrist Injury): 9 HRs in 62 Games.
Troy Tulowtizki (After Wrist Injury): 18 HRs in 60 Games.

*Tulowitzki hit 15 HRs in September. 

Julio Lugo took a fastball to his hands against Kerry Wood in 2002.  He was out for the season with a broken hand (July) missing nearly half the season.

 Julio Lugo (Before Injury): 8 HRs in 88 games.
Julio Lugo (After Injury): Done. 

The encouraging news is, all of these players bounced back the following year after the broken hand/wrist injury.  It happens, it usually takes a full year for the bone to heal, age definitely helps.  I would not be too excited about J.P. or A-Rod the rest of this season, and gladly let other owners use them in their playoff match-ups against me.

Muntradamus is a Fantasy Sports Expert who specializes in Fantasy Football/Baseball/Basketball. He is currently in his first season as a Pro on FantasyPros where he is the only expert to have Adam Dunn, Mike Aviles, and Wilin Rosario in his top 20 at each position. Muntradamus not only leads many to championships with his great advice, and outlooks into the future. He is also consistently on the top of leaderboards in DraftStreet.