Detroit Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias will miss four to six months of the season due to stress fractures in both of his legs.
Iglesias was examined by Dr. Thomas Clanton on Tuesday, and will be reevaluated in four months. He will be doing non-weight bearing exercises and upper-body conditioning during the time that he is out. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said that Iglesias played with stress fractures in his legs last year when he was with the Boston Red Sox. He will have more tests done to determine why the fractures didn’t heal during the offseason, according to the Associated Press. He would like to play this year, despite having the fractures.
"I just felt it from the very first moment of [last] Spring Training," Iglesias told MLB.com this week. "I just told myself to play through it, because I never expected something like that. I just feel pain, but Stephen Drew had a concussion at the time and that was an opportunity for me to start with the team. And I was like, 'You know what? You've got to play through it.' And I did it."
Iglesias was acquired by the Tigers last July in a three-team trade with the Red Sox. Last year he hit .303 with three homeruns, 29 RBIs, 16 doubles, and five stolen bases, according to Sports Illustrated. He was second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.
The Tigers could sign Stephen Drew, who is a free agent, to replace Iglesias if they don’t want to start Danny Worth. Prospects Eugenio Suarez and Hernan Perez are other possibilities to replace Iglesias.