Red Sox lose Ryan Hanigan after unlucky ricochet breaks his finger
Boston Red Sox catcher Ryan Hanigan had some pretty terrible luck on Friday night. The nine-year MLB veteran was forced to leave Friday's 3-2 loss to the Yankees after being on the wrong end of an unfortunate ricochet.
It happened on a sixth-inning pitch from Tommy Layne. The pitch actually hit Yankees' first baseman Mark Teixeira on his right hand and wrist area, and then ricocheted right off Hanigan's exposed throwing hand. Amazingly it still had enough force to break one of Hanigan's fingers, which according to the Red Sox will require surgery.
The team says he's expected to miss a substantial amount of time as a result, which will open up the door for an interesting debut in Boston.
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First, here's a look at the injury.
Quite the unusual scene with two guys reacting to the same pitch the same way.
To think, that one pitch could have easily taken out two important players from the AL East. In fact, given Teixeira's past wrist problems, it's quite surprising he wasn't forced from the game. That he wasn't injured is a significant development for New York, but the focus goes to what this means for Boston, and right now the outlook doesn't sound good.
A lot of concern within the BOS organization that the Ryan Hanigan injury is significant, beyond the usual length of time for broken bone.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) May 2, 2015
Hanigan, who was acquired from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Will Middlebooks just hours after the Tampa Bay Rays traded him in the Wil Myers trade, had been serving as Boston's every day catcher with Christian Vazquez already out for the season. He's only hitting .222 with one home run, and so far the Red Sox pitching has been predictably iffy, but he's a veteran presence with a good handle on a vital position.
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With that said, it does give Boston the opportunity to look at Blake Swihart, who's regarded as the top catching prospect in baseball and Boston's No. 2 prospect overall. The 23-year-old is in Boston's lineup on Saturday. He was hitting .338/.392/.382 at Triple-A with three doubles and 11 RBI in 74 plate appearances. The Red Sox are also expected to seek veteran insurance, so it'll be interesting to see if they're prepared to turn Swihart loose or keep him on a short leash.
Veteran Sandy Leon is Boston's current backup. Some are already linking them to Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who caught in Boston from 2010-2013 and was designated for assignment by the Marlins earlier this week.
Those are answers we will get in due time. For now, let the battle of attrition continue around MLB.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
