Ouch. Right in the heart. And the groin. And probably the hamstring.
Cubs starting catcher Willson Contreras exited today’s game following what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Here’s the play, after which Contreras departed, and looked very upset on the way to, and in, the dugout:
Willson Contreras came up limping running out of the batter's box in the 7th inning. Victor Caratini replaced him at catcher in the top of the 8th. pic.twitter.com/k5dQhoA3nP
— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) August 3, 2019
Brutal to watch. Willson Contreras doesn’t deserve this. pic.twitter.com/RRy7xR1kz0
— Cubs Zone ™️ (@CubsZone) August 3, 2019
Willson Contreras tweaked something in his right leg while running up the first-base line on a lineout to left-center. Hopped up the line and walking slow off the field with an athletic trainer.
Will provide an update when Cubs give one.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 3, 2019
Contreras hurt his hamstring around this time back in 2017, for what it’s worth. If it’s the hammy again, you can expect Contreras to miss – at the absolute best – a month. Likely more.
We’ll have more when we know more, but the situation at catcher is this: assuming Contreras has to miss significant time, the Cubs can bring up Taylor Davis to back up Victor Caratini, they can try to grab someone like Jonathan Lucroy on the waiver wire, or they can try to trade for a minor league veteran catcher (i.e., someone not on the 40-man roster). The options are not great for a team that just traded away third catcher Martin Maldonado, as understandable as the deal was at the time.