JULY 11: Cron will undergo surgery Tuesday on his broken hand and will miss six to eight weeks, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
JULY 8: Angels first baseman/DH C.J. Cron is headed to the DL after being diagnosed with a fractured left hand, as Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. Cron suffered the injury on a hit-by-pitch. Ji-Man Choi will be recalled to take Cron’s roster spot, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets.
[Related: Updated Angels Depth Chart]
That’s a tough blow for a Halos club that hasn’t had much go right this year. Cron had been one of the few bright spots for the organization, putting up a .280/.331/.479 batting line with 11 home runs over 283 plate appearances. That represented a nice step forward for the 26-year-old, who had been a slightly-above-average hitter in his two prior years but needed to do more with the bat given his positional limitations.
Notably, Cron has not only boosted his power numbers, but has also improved his plate discipline quite a bit. As things stand, he has career-best numbers in walks (6.0%) and strikeouts (14.5%).
The 25-year-old Choi struggled in his first taste of the big leagues earlier this year, though that was a brief stint. He has been hitting quite well at Triple-A on the year, running up a .329/.413/.488 slash over 197 plate appearances.
willm
awesome
geejohnny
I hope you’re being sarcastic and not being a classless jerk.
McConaughey'sLincoln
Pretty positive it was sarcasm
jawilli31
Yeah, that sux, and so do you, my friend! Cron looked a cut above the rest as I watched him down in AAA after being sent last year. This year, he stayed up, putting nice craftwork together, then gets bit in the hand. The Angels were getting it together, but it seems like injury is the price to pay for doing. Talk about patience is a virtue.
Gogerty
Wow, that sucks, he had been looking good lately.
ThatGuy 2
Yeah, I’ll admit he proved me wrong to the moon and back. I didn’t think he was more than a AAAA guy. I was happy for the guy.
Sucks to see him go down
ryanw-2
He just wasn’t advertised very much. When the Angels drafted Cron he was considered the most advanced power hitter in the draft. He mashed in the minors. But his pitch selection was the one thing holding him back in his first two seasons with the big club. And if you look at all three seasons, his numbers go up as he accumulates more plate appearances.
jowen47304
It’s because I picked him up in my fantasy league a week ago. Almost every player on my team has had a DL stint this year, especially hamstrings. I had 5 guys in the same week go down for hammies.
dhutch64
The one guy on the Angels who has been swinging a hot bat … Figures
ryanw-2
Add Escobar, Calhoun, Trout, Pujols, and Simmons to that list…
angelsinthetroutfield
yep. the bats haven’t been an issue
angelsinthetroutfield
Really sucks for CJ. He was having a damn strong season up to this point and that’s including a terrible first few weeks.
I was actually kinda hoping his recent form would help net us a solid piece for the future through trade (probably as part of a package). It’s my opinion that a lefty hitting 1B fits our roster better but it’s no necessity. I’ve grown to like the guy quite a bit. Hard worker, he’s come a long way with his physique, fielding, and plate discipline.
lazorko
Good. CJ was hurting our chances at getting a top 5 pick in the draft for the first time in 20 years. Tanking’s our only hope.
lazorko
BTW, clearly that rosterresource.com link to the Angels depth chart is broken, since it does not lead to a blank page. Please fix the link.
Yamsi12
No it’s not broken. The Angels have no depth.
lazorko
You need to work on your reading comprehension and sarcasm detection. Link still *doesn’t* lead to a *blank* page. Therefore, link still broken.
halos101
really…
ryanw-2
Boom!
angelsforever
BAd deal. CJ was really doing well. Maybe Arte will resign his favorite pretty boy CJ Wilson!
halos84
cj the pre madonna
Ry.the.Stunner
Did you seriously just say “pre madonna”?
It’s prima donna.
erickohli
The hits, no pun intended, just keep on coming for the Halos. This sucks.
Yamsi12
Of course……
AngelFan69
I don’t want to sound superstitious but …. This team is definitely cursed…
diamondbacksbaseball
Who cares? ……. Angels are done anyways cron is maybe bottom 5 first baseman in baseball anyways waste of space
agentx
Pretty harsh assessment of Cron. Have you already forgotten how bad some of the D’backs options were at 1B before Goldschmidt arrived?
halos101
bottom five? your crazy bud
darenh
oh man, what a nightmarish season for the Halos.
Lanidrac
In the meantime, could Pujols see some more time at 1B to clear up the DH spot for a wider variety of hitters? I understand still wanting to rest him at DH sometimes, but the two-time Gold Glover still plays pretty good defense.
agentx
I also hope that’s the case. Pujols has looked like he’s over that foot injury over his 25 games at 1B this year, at least so far as it had limited his fielding before.