Hanley To Have MRI On Injured Thumb Later Today

It happened very quietly before I had a chance to even notice. Hanley Ramirez jammed his thumb while diving for a ball during the third inning of last night’s World Baseball Classic championship game between the Dominican team and team Puerto Rico. Just as we thought we were finally getting Hanley back. But of course.

Hanley has been playing third base and DH for the Dominican team for the last few weeks. (Hanley is 5 for 22 in the WBC with two home runs and three RBI.) Hanley has not played shortstop at all during the WBC because Jose Reyes was the starting shortstop. The Dodgers have sent eight players to the WBC this year, and Hanley was the last one to have yet to return to the Dodgers. The injury comes at a really bad time for the Dodgers right now. With Dee Gordon ailing a sore ankle, the Dodgers could be dangerously thin at shortstop if Hanley has to miss any significant amount of time.

As you can see there is Hanley celebrating with the splint on his thumb.

Hanley injured his right thumb while diving for a ball during the third frame of team Dominican’s 3-0 win over Puerto Rico in the final game of the World Baseball Classic. He was playing third base last night. He was seen flexing the hand in the dugout, and the reports were that his thumb was swollen. He didn’t come out of the game until the sixth inning. He was able to bat once during that time frame, in which he singled.

Reports are that he will undergo an MRI on his thumb for precautionary measures when he returns to Glendale tomorrow. We also heard he had his thumb in a splint, but told everyone he felt fine, and didn’t consider the thumb injury serious. Now he was seen celebrating in the image above after the Dominican clinched the title. There he is pictured above with the splint/cast on his thumb. So maybe it is not as serious as we had first worried? We can only hope, nay pray, that nothing is broken or torn, and that it is just swollen. What scares me then most is being only one or two injuries away from Juan Uribe starting somewhere in the infield. What if that ends up being shortstop? (shudders). Let’s just keep happy thoughts for now. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear anything.

The Dodgers should stop letting players play in the World Baseball Classic. It’s very annoying to see this happen at all, but especially during the final game of the tournament. Hanley has played in all eight WBC games for the Dominican team. The Dominican team won the WBC title by beating Puerto Rico 3-0.