Injury Update: Estrada fractures hand, Disco gets sleepy

A frustrating couple of games against the New York Mets in more ways than one: two losses on Saturday and Sunday resulted in two more key San Francisco Giants pieces heading to the injured list.

Thairo Estrada, who has paced the team with a 2.6 WAR and a team leading 315 PA over 70 games, fractured his hand after being hit by an inside fastball from Adam Ottavino in the 8th inning of Sunday’s loss.

Right-handed starter Anthony DeSclafani came down with a nasty case of shoulder fatigue, admitting to reporters he was feeling tired after a trifecta of a crappy outing, allowing 3 runs on 3 solo home runs in the 3rd inning of Saturday’s loss.

Whether Disco should’ve admitted as much, it felt pretty apparent watching him in recent starts. He. Is. Gassed. Over his last 7 games, he’s been knocked around for 23 runs on 39 hits over 33 innings—good for a 6.27 ERA.

The starter has thrown 93.1 innings so far this season, second only to Logan Webb on the team. The signs of strain aren’t that surprising given Disco is two years removed from this kind of workload—Disco pitched just 19 innings in 2022 before having season-ending ankle surgery.

The pitching depth is there to ride out Disco’s injury. Ross Stripling is healthy and pitched well on Sunday. The Giants have done well mixing-and-matching in bullpen games, and Keaton Winn was incredibly promising in his first career start in Toronto.

In subsequent moves, Mike Yastrzemski was reinstated from the IL and Brett Wisely was called up to help fill in the Estrada shaped-hole at second base. It will be far from a perfect fit. The Giants have been shaky in the field, and according to some advanced metrics on Fangraphs, Thairo has been one of the best defensive second baseman in baseball this season.

The coaching staff will have to figure out multiple salves for the stalwart infielder’s absence.

The light-hitting Wisely will provide some flexibility for Gabe Kapler with his ability to play the outfield and eat some innings on the mound (of course) but overall, he’s an interchangeable piece with the likes of Isan Díaz. David Villar might be called up too depending on probable match-ups, and Casey Schmitt will get some starts on the right side of the infield when facing lefties.

Wood and Stripling back, Disco gone. Yaz and Michael Conforto walk in the door as Estrada heads out. This happens to every team every season, and every season it’s a team’s god-given right to feel picked on.

Gabe Kapler must feel like he’s playing whack-a-mole.