Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas, in midst of breakout season, injured against Mets
Miami Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas suffered a right hamstring strain trying to beat out a inning-ending groundball double play in the top of the third inning of the Marlins’ 5-0 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday.
With one out and pitcher Hector Noesi on first base, Rojas hit a ground ball to Mets shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who quickly flipped the ball to Luis Guillorme to start the double play. Rojas stumbled on his way to first base and overstepped the bag trying to beat out the throw.
“I felt something on my leg that I never felt before running down the first-base line,” Rojas said. “I felt a pop right behind my knee. I thought for a second it was my knee. The doctor said it looks like the hamstring. ... We’ll see what it is.”
Rojas fell to the ground past the bag and was tagged out. He remained on the ground just past first base for about a few minutes in clear pain and had to be helped off the field and back to the team’s dugout.
Rojas has initially been ruled as day to day, but the extent of the injury will be determined after he undergoes an MRI in Miami on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “When he first got out there, I think he felt like his knee just kind of blew up. I came back in and checked on him and it looked like it was low at the attachment right above the knee. We got a break there, even though any time you say hamstring it’s not really a break. It’s better than a knee getting blown up.”
Jon Berti, who started the game in left field, moved to shortstop to replace Rojas. Curtis Granderson entered in left field and took over at Rojas’ spot leading off the lineup.
Should the injury be serious, it will be a major setback for Rojas in the midst of a career year. Rojas, playing as an everyday shortstop for the first time in his MLB career, is hitting a team-best .291 with a career-high 22 doubles to go along with 33 RBI and 44 runs scored. He entered Tuesday with at least one base hit in each of his last 11 starts.
Rojas, 30, also served as a clear leader for a young clubhouse in the midst of a rebuild.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Rojas said, “but it’s part of baseball and part of what we do. Sometimes you don’t feel great, especially when you’re playing every day. But when something like this happens, you just have to be positive and keep your head up. That’s the way I’m going to look at it. I’m going to keep my head up, try to keep my teammates happy and try to keep everyone together while I’m getting back to the field. Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later.”
Berti is a logical choice to replace Rojas at shortstop for the time being, but the Marlins will talk things over before Wednesday’s 12:10 p.m. series finale against the Mets.
“That’s probably the first thought,” Mattingly said. “... We really counted on him being the backup guy. Obviously we’re going to have to anticipate some type of move for another guy that can play short. [Marlins president of baseball operations] Mike [Hill] will talk that through and then we’ll go from there.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 8:15 PM.
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