As if news coming out of San Francisco couldn’t be more dire, Giants ace Madison Bumgarner reportedly suffered a fractured left hand after being hit with a batted ball during the team’s Cactus League game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
Madison Bumgarner has a fractured hand
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 23, 2018
This comes on the heels of reports that Jeff Samardzija will start the regular season on the disabled list with an injury of his own.
Though, the long-term loss of Bumgarner is bigger news. While it would be foolish to speculate how long the former World Series MVP might be out, this is obviously a crushing blow for a Giants team that was relying on him to return to 2016 form.
Bumgarner, 28, started only 17 games for the Giants due to injury last season. He’ll now be lucky to match that total in 2018.