The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Thursday that catcher Yadier Molina has a torn ligament in his thumb and will have surgery on Friday.
According to ESPN, Molina suffered the injury in Wednesday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he planted his hand for balance after sliding into third base.
He will miss eight to 12 weeks, which could keep him out the rest of the regular season.
The loss of the 31-year-old All-Star catcher is a huge blow to the Cardinals and their fans. The team currently sits 1.5 games back from the Milwaukee Brewers in a tight NL Central division.
USA Today noted that Molina’s backup catcher, Tony Cruz, will take over full-time catching duties for now while the team looks for more catching help.
"We'll see what's out there that makes sense for us." GM John Mozeliak said. "You just don't find a catcher like that in the middle of the season. From a standpoint of trying to replace him, it's not even a logical question. What you're doing is looking to find a stop-gap.”
This year, Molina was batting .287 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs.