Franco needs wrist surgery, expected to miss 5-8 weeks
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ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays got the news they expected, but feared, on Monday. Star shortstop Wander Franco will undergo surgery Tuesday on his fractured right hamate bone, manager Kevin Cash said. Franco is expected to miss five to eight weeks.
Franco exited the Rays’ loss to the Reds on Saturday after the top of the first inning, then he landed on the injured list Sunday morning. Franco saw Dr. Douglas Carlan on Monday, and he confirmed the club’s initial suspicion that the 21-year-old switch-hitter sustained a fractured hamate.
The news is a major blow to the Rays and a crushing disappointment for Franco, who’s battled injuries throughout the season after an excellent rookie year with Tampa Bay in 2021. But they all saw it coming after he left Saturday’s game. Franco had an X-ray in the Reds’ clubhouse during the game, and Monday’s testing backed up what they saw there.
After signing a 12-year, $223 million contract extension in late November, Franco lived up to the extraordinary hype during the first month of the season. Over his first 22 games, Franco hit .330/.354/.571, while playing spectacular defense. But he was limited by lower-body injuries in May and slashed just .207/.255/.264 over his next 23 games, before landing on the injured list May 31 due to a strained right quad.
Franco missed nearly a month before returning on June 26, then he put together a 10-game hitting streak -- with one hit per game -- leading up to Saturday.
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Now facing another extended absence from Franco, the Rays will turn back to Taylor Walls as their everyday shortstop. The switch-hitting Walls entered Monday batting just .164/.245/.264 this season. He arrived in the Majors last season with a sterling defensive reputation, and he supported that by recording 10 defensive runs saved at shortstop in only 49 games, but he’s committed nine errors around the infield this year. Still, Tampa Bay believes in the defensive ability Walls has displayed.
Franco’s injury is just the latest of many the Rays have had to deal with this season. They have 15 players on the injured list, the highest total in the American League and tied with the Reds for most in the Majors.
Tampa Bay is missing five of the nine hitters from its Opening Day lineup: Franco, Brandon Lowe, Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot and Mike Zunino. According to Baseball-Reference’s version of WAR, the Rays are missing 10 of the 12 most valuable players from last year’s 100-win club; three are playing elsewhere (Joey Wendle, Collin McHugh and Austin Meadows), and the other seven are injured (Lowe, Zunino, Franco, Kiermaier, Margot, Tyler Glasnow and Andrew Kittredge).
As a result, the Rays are relying on several young or inexperienced players -- including Walls, outfielder Josh Lowe, infielder Isaac Paredes and recently promoted infielder Jonathan Aranda -- to help keep their lineup afloat. They’re hopeful those players will capitalize on the opportunities they’re getting as a result of all the club’s injuries.
“You’ve got to make the most of the roster that you have. Look, it presents really quality opportunities for some young players that, with good health and good fortune, might not be getting that this year,” Cash said. “We've gotten a lot of it, and hopefully we're going to continue to find ways to be better from it.”