Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who was off to a fantastic start to the 2012 season — hitting .345/.387/.583 in 43 games — has been out since May 27 after a broken hand suffered in a weird injury when a suitcase fell on his hand in his hotel room after the team arrived for a series in Los Angeles.
The Brewers were 19-28 when Lucroy was injured, and they’ve actually been over .500 — 25-24 — without him. But they’ll surely like having his bat back in the lineup. No corresponding roster move has yet been announced.
The Milwaukee Brewers have had a parade of players on the disabled list this season, with injuries ranging from hamstrings to quads to obliques, but the one that happened to catcher Jonathan Lucroy has to top the list, given that it did not happen during a game, but when a suitcase fell on his hand in his Los Angeles hotel room.
The Brewers’ avalanche of injuries crossed over to the bizarre side Monday when it was revealed that catcher Jonathan Lucroy, one of the hottest hitters in the National League, suffered a broken right hand in an accident in his hotel room the previous evening. Lucroy will be out four to six weeks, becoming the seventh current player on the disabled list.
“It’s not going too well in that area,” said manager Ron Roenicke, who could barely enjoy a 3-2 nail-biter over the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Obviously, it hurts our team a lot. I feel really bad for him. And he feels really bad about it.”
The Brewers recalled Martin Maldonado, who was hitting .198 at Triple-A Nashville, to replace Lucroy on the roster. And he’ll be pressed right into action:
With backup catcher George Kottaras hobbled somewhat by a sore hamstring, Roenicke said Maldonado will do most of the catching for awhile.
Lucroy was one of the NL’s top hitters in May with a .388 average this month. Insert “when it rains, it pours” cliché here.
