Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

On a 2-0 pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday night, Ryan Jeffers took a foul ball off his right hand or wrist. It caused him some immediate discomfort, but he stayed in the game for the rest of the frame. However, Christian Vázquez pinch-hit for Jeffers in the top of the fifth, and the Twins announced that Jeffers had departed with a right hand contusion. The team took X-rays, which were negative; that’s good news. Still, though, Jeffers leaving helped seal the Twins’ fate, as Vázquez came up with the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth and made the final out in the team’s fifth straight loss.

 

Hopefully, the results of the scan mean that Jeffers avoided serious injury on the play, but this is the second time this year he’s taken a hit to his throwing hand (and the top hand when he’s at the plate). When there’s a runner on base whom he considers a threat to steal, Jeffers will hold his bare hand in front of him, roughly in his lap. That lets him achieve a quicker transfer and release on throws to nail would-be thieves, but it also puts him at some added risk for the kind of injury he suffered Tuesday.

Even without a fracture, Jeffers could miss a bit of time due to this issue. If the contusion begets swelling, it could interfere both with his efforts to generate good bat speed and with his throws from behind the plate, so the Twins are likely to have Vázquez catch at least the final two games of their series in Cincinnati. If Jeffers isn’t back in the lineup (at least as the DH) by Thursday afternoon, we’ll know that he’s dealing with something a bit more notable.

With no broken bone, Jeffers is likely to stay off the injured list, which is a relief. Vázquez is in no position, based on his age and health or on his performance, to take over as the near-full-time backstop for this team. Jeffers is an important part of the Twins lineup, for both his offensive and his defensive contributions. Without him, a weak batting order grows downright anemic. 

The offending batted ball came off the bat of Reds outfielder Will Benson, and appeared to hit either Jeffers’s wrist or the back of his right hand. He immediately winced and spent the rest of the inning flexing and turning his hand, whenever he got an opportunity. It was no great surprise when he was lifted for Vázquez the next time his place in the order was due. The Twins were smart to get a head start on imaging, and thankfully, the absence of a break on the X-ray indicates that Jeffers should be ok. 

Even if he can play through this, though, expect it to have at least a minor effect on how he hits and throws. Jeffers lost a bit of bat speed in the fortnight after his previous hand issue, and William Contreras of the Brewers is severely lacking in the power department this year, largely because he’s lost bat speed, too. Jeffers might be fully fine this time around, but in a frustrating loss, the Twins’ most terrifying moment might have been when Jeffers had to leave the game.

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