Jayson Werth has broken his wrist diving for a ball in Sunday nights game versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
“It’s a clean break,” Washington manager Davey Johnson said after the Nationals’ 9-3 loss. “He’s going to be out for a while.”
Werth, known for his solid defense and consistent offense, was attempting to make a sliding catch in the sixth inning when the incident happened.
As the liner off of Placido Polanco’s bat came sinking toward the right fielder, it only felt natural to dive for ball and try and make the out.
However, as Werth began to dive, his glove was caught underneath him, forcing his hand to double back behind him, causing a clean break of the wrist.
The distrought right fielder winced in pain for a moment, then gathered himself and heaved the ball back into the infield.
The injury depleted Nationals are trying to stay healthy, but it seems to be getting more and more difficult as the young season progresses.
“All of a sudden we seem to be getting a little more healthy and then boom, another one of our main guys goes down,” Johnson said. “We’ve dealt with it before we’ll deal with it again. We’re not alone. It seems like it’s rampant right now. It’s a tough blow.”
“That’s really bad,” says Bryce Harper. “That’s a big loss for us.”
Harper was just recently called up from AAA to aid the Nationals and provide some offense to the club in light of the injuries.
Adam LaRoche, looking to battle back against his injury and rejoin the team, was also disappointed to hear of Werth’s setback.
“Never a good time to lose anybody, especially a guy in the heart of your lineup,” LaRoche said. “We were looking forward to this next series, this next week, being together again. Now we’re obviously short another big bat and a big part of this team. So, time for everybody to step up and make up for it as much as we can.
There is now definite time table for Jayson Werth’s return, however, it is safe to say that the Nationals star should be out for at least a couple of months.
