Yadier Molina is out for at least a month after emergency groin surgery
After suffering a serious injury on Saturday, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina will be out of the lineup for awhile.
Catchers get beat up behind the plate, as they dive to block bad pitches, get pelted with foul balls and other related job hazards. But then there’s what happened to St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, which will have him out of the lineup for awhile after emergency surgery.
The video can be seen here, as Molina took a foul tip off a 102 MPH fastball from Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks right to a very sensitive area. He underwent surgery to address a pelvic injury and a traumatic hematoma in his groin. On Sunday morning, Cardinals’ president John Mozeliak confirmed Molina is expected to miss a month of action.
Molina has played at least 136 games and earned an All-Star selection in eight of the last nine seasons, the first of which is quite a feat for a catcher approaching 36 years old (July 13). The eight-time Gold Glover is hitting .272/.292/.456 with six home runs and 17 RBI so far this season, so his presence will clearly be missed in all facets.
Francisco Pena replaced Molina on Saturday, and Carson Kelly was called up on Sunday to take the open roster spot with Molina on the disabled list. Kelly is hitting just .234 for Triple-A Memphis so far this season, but he’s considered a strong defensive catcher and has some big league experience (44 games over the 2016 and 2017 seasons with the Cardinals).
Kelly is considered a high-level prospect, and now he’s got a pretty significant opportunity in front of him.
#STLCards place Yadier Molina on the 10-day DL and recall @MLB's No. 44 overall prospect Carson Kelly from @memphisredbirds. Scouting report, grades, stats & video on the @Cardinals' No. 3 & baseball's No. 2 catching prospect: https://t.co/zGqqpcDMBG pic.twitter.com/WLMkZocxsa
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 6, 2018
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In a tight National League Central, where St. Louis sits atop by half a game entering Sunday and three teams are within 2.5 games, losing any key player would be bad. But the drop-off from Molina to virtually any other catcher in baseball would be dramatic, both in surface and behind the scenes value. But as long as he’s only out for a month, a trade for someone like J.T. Realmuto seems unlikely for the Cardinals.