As spring training dawned across Major League Baseball, with players basking in the sunshine of Arizona and Florida, baseball fans engaged in a familiar February rite of passage: finding out who is already injured.
This week, the optimism of spring has given way to the grinding reality of the sport, all before teams conducted their first workouts. The onslaught of bad news elicited howling in Canada, groans in Atlanta and frenetic Googling to determine just what, exactly, is the hamate bone.
So, let the first lesson of the 2026 MLB season be anatomical: the hamate is the hook-shaped bone stationed in the palm beneath the pinky, and the repetitive motion of a baseball swing can leave it particularly prone to breaks, as three prominent players have already learned. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll and Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday were all slated to undergo hamate surgery this week.
Carroll will not play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. All three are now questionable for Opening Day in late March.
The consequences of these surgeries could stretch into the summer. The typical recovery lasts four to six weeks. In recent years, teams have become more cautious about rushing players back to start the season. But hamate surgery often saps a hitter of power, something Lindor, Carroll and Holliday were expected to supply in 2026.
“It’s a part of the game,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “As you can see, two other players had it happen [this week]. It’s just the timing of it is unfortunate.”
The hamate is not the only body part under duress thus far. A year after its starting rotation became a MASH unit, the Atlanta Braves placed talented young pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach on the 60-day injured list with an elbow injury. The Houston Astros might break camp without $95 million closer Josh Hader. The Toronto Blue Jays were preparing to play most of the season without former All-Star outfielder Anthony Santander.
These injuries arose from the resumption of training and from the re-examination of old wounds. Carroll broke his hand during live batting practice on Tuesday. Holliday did something similar last week. A specialist diagnosed Lindor, who had dealt with hand soreness for the past two seasons, with a “stress reaction” after Lindor reported discomfort upon arrival at Mets camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
On the other side of the state, the Blue Jays were grappling with a lingering ailment leading to an even longer absence. Santander will miss at least five months as he recovers from shoulder surgery, adding another unhappy chapter to his Blue Jays tenure. The first season of Santander’s five-year, $92.5 million pact with Toronto went poorly. An injury to his left shoulder limited him to 54 games. He posted a career-low .565 OPS. A back issue kept him off the World Series roster. The Blue Jays had hoped Santander, who swatted 105 homers in his final three seasons as an Oriole, could replace some of the offensive production lost following Bo Bichette’s departure for the Mets.
Instead, after what manager John Schneider termed a “setback” in January, Santander may not see the field.
Anthony Santander will miss significant time following surgery, which felt like a dramatic reversal considering earlier reports. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Santander was not the only Blue Jay shelved this week.
During the winter, some rival executives were surprised when former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber picked up a $16 million player option rather than testing free agency. His avoidance of the open market suggested lingering concerns in his return from Tommy John surgery. Schneider relayed on Tuesday that Bieber was dealing with forearm fatigue and would begin the season on the injured list. The club’s pitching depth took an additional hit with the news that Bowden Francis, who posted a 3.30 ERA in 103 2/3 innings in 2024, would also require Tommy John surgery.
If some of the injuries are new, others are only now becoming known.
On Tuesday, the Detroit Tigers revealed that pitcher Reese Olson had undergone season-ending shoulder surgery on Feb. 2. The surgery offered context for a recent string of acquisitions. Two days after Olson’s procedure, the club landed top free-agent arm Framber Valdez with a three-year, $115 million contract. Still searching for depth, Detroit initiated a $13 million reunion this week with former ace Justin Verlander.
A similar scenario unfolded for the Braves — only without the outside reinforcements. Atlanta missed the postseason last year for the first time since 2017 as starting pitchers Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez and Schwellenbach got hurt. A fractured pitching elbow sidelined Schwellenbach in June. An examination this week revealed lingering inflammation around the joint, which will keep him off the roster for the season’s first two months.
And other teams are trying to wrap their arms around problems that arose during the winter. Hader, a six-time All-Star, felt soreness in his left arm while throwing a bullpen session earlier this offseason. The Astros medical staff discovered biceps inflammation. Hader had resumed his throwing program after what he called “a little setback.”
At this time of year, a setback could prove to be ominous or innocuous. But the rash of ailments across the sport offered a good reminder for every player’s ambitions for the spring. Mets starter Kodai Senga put it plainly when asked if he had any goals for the next two months: “To not get injured.”
— The Athletic’s Sam Blum and Mitch Bannon contributed to this report