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Pirates lose Josh Harrison for six weeks to thumb injury

By Ethan Obstarczyk

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were dealt a huge blow today, as it was announced that Josh Harrison is expected to miss six weeks due to a torn ligament in his thumb that he suffered on Sunday against the Indians.

The injury happened when he slid into second base which will keep the hard-working leadoff hitter out of action until mid-August if the initial prognosis is correct. While the injury is certainly an unfortunate blow to the team as they try to catch up with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, they fortunately have an option to take over third base already on the big club.

As Travis Sawchik reports, Jung Ho Kang is the going to see playing time at third base now. Kang has seen playing time at both third and shortstop this season, but the majority of it has been at third. He also sports a better fielding percentage at third (.965) than at shortstop (.951). Given the way that the bench is currently set up, the Pirates do not have any other players with much experience at the hot corner. Sean Rodriguez and Steve Lombardozzi have played third, albeit just a handful of games during this season or last. Neither of those players is considered to be an everyday option, and Kang was eventually going to get a bigger role with the club at some point; Harrison’s injury just caused that to happen a lot quicker than expected.

Down on the farm there are not any attractive options either. Brent Morel? No thanks. The top infield prospect at AAA is Alen Hanson and he is not a third baseman, so unless a move outside of the organization is made, Kang will be the guy getting the playing time until mid-August.

The injury will also cause a ripple effect with the everyday lineup as now someone else will be called upon to hit leadoff. Gregory Polanco is the obvious choice given his speed on the base paths, but he has not hit well at all this season. Starling Marte is another option but he has displayed good power this year and ideally he would be coming to the plate with runners on, which will not happen as often if he is moved up (he also is experiencing his own injury woes).

Because Harrison was involved in generating a lot runs for the team at the top of the lineup, it will become even more important that some players start to produce more. Both Polanco and Pedro Alvarez will need to start being involved in this run production, especially since Polanco could start to see time in the number one spot of the order.

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On a more general note, it will be interesting if the Pirates can keep playing at such a tremendous pace without their sparkplug at the top of the lineup every day. The division rival Cardinals have dealt with long-term disabled list stays from players like Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright and in that time all they’ve done is become the first team to win 50 games before playing 75 games in total. Good teams still find a way to win in these situations, and the Pirates are a very good baseball team. When they lost Andrew McCutchen in 2014 because of his beanball-related injury, they continued to play well and earned a second consecutive playoff appearance. The players in the clubhouse have weathered a storm like this before, arguably a bigger one. Granted, McCutchen did not miss as much time as Harrison most likely will, but he is the leader of the team and they still rallied to gain a playoff berth.

The coming weeks will be tough for the Pirates, especially considering the impending four-game showdown with the Cardinals. Hopefully Josh Harrison does not experience any setbacks and can get back on the field within the timeframe he was given, or perhaps even sooner. Kang has an opportunity to impress the team with the playing time he will receive, and if he plays well he could give the Pirates a great problem to have at third base when Harrison returns.

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