The news regarding Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton went from bad to worse Tuesday, when an MRI showed his strained right hamstring to be worse than initially thought.
Stanton said Tuesday he was diagnosed with a grade-two strain (on a scale of one to three) following the MRI. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list after Monday's game against the New York Mets when he hurt the hamstring while trying to beat out a ground ball.
Recovery for a grade-two strain is expected to take at least one month. The initial hope was that Stanton could return to the Marlins lineup in 15 days at best.
"Awesome timing," Stanton said facetiously. "It's a tough break. Pretty frustrating. It's just one of those freak things. There's never a good time, but this was probably one of the worst times to do it."
Stanton had just broken out of a season-starting slump. He hit three home runs in the two games preceding Monday night.
"If we could just erase all of April, that would be lovely," Stanton said.
Minor league phenom Marcell Ozuna was called up from Double-A Jacksonville to take Stanton's roster spot. He went 1 for 3 in Miami's win against the Mets Tuesday night, his major league debut.
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Former Marlins (and still a team adviser) Jack McKeon told the Miami Herald that Ozuna reminds him reminds me of Tony Armas, with his power and speed." Armas led the AL in home runs in 1981 and 1984.
Miami has won its past three games, but without Stanton (the team's best hitter by a long shot), wins will be harder to come by for the next month.
