Phillies' Darick Hall needs thumb surgery, will miss significant time
Darick Hall needs thumb surgery, will miss significant time originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Darick Hall's right thumb injury is serious enough that it requires surgery that will keep him out for a significant amount of time.
A brutal blow for the 27-year-old, who had received the biggest opportunity of his career in a starting role with first baseman Rhys Hoskins out for the season with a torn ACL.
"It's going to be a little bit," he said prior to the Phillies' home opener Friday. "The tentative date is Wednesday for surgery. Seems like it's a simple procedure, they're just going to patch it and put an anchor in it. Then it's going to be a pretty aggressive rehab because I can still do a lot of stuff, can still use my legs, my left hand, take ground balls. It's just about getting the strength back at this point."
Hall sprained his thumb sliding into second base attempting a double in Wednesday's loss at Yankee Stadium. The decision to try to stretch a hard-hit single to deep right field into a double could cost him months.
No official timetable has been given.
"It's sad, but we do play sports and things like that happen," he said. "I don't regret going to second base on that play. Two outs, wet field, it hit the perfect spot. I felt like I made the right play being aggressive and I end up being hurt. It's just like, OK, that happens.
"I just hope and I know that we have a lot of good players and guys that are right behind you that will pick it up and keep the team moving forward."
Hall had a big spring, hitting .316 with five homers and three doubles as he pushed to win the left-handed portion of the Phillies' DH platoon. Then Hoskins tore his ACL late in camp and it made Hall the first baseman against right-handed pitching. Teams see a right-hander about 65 percent of the time so that made Hall close to a regular.
In his absence, the Phillies will start Kody Clemens at first base against right-handers. Clemens, Roger's son, is a left-handed-hitting utilityman in his age-27 season. He hit .145 last year as a rookie with four doubles and five homers in 127 plate appearances with the Tigers. The Phillies acquired him with Gregory Soto in January for Matt Vierling and Nick Maton.
Clemens hit eighth in Friday's lineup against Reds right-hander Hunter Greene. Saturday's lineup will look different with lefty Nick Lodolo on the mound. Lefties have hit just .137 with one extra-base hit in Lodolo's 20 big-league starts. It would not be surprising to see Alec Bohm start at first base Saturday with Josh Harrison at third base and Edmundo Sosa in center field.
The Phillies used Sosa in center for the first time Wednesday after he played the position throughout spring training. They did so because they pinch-hit for Cristian Pache with Harrison and needed someone else to end the game in center. Pache has already proven to be an ineffective option offensively, so much so that he hasn't finished either of the games he's started. In a fully healthy Phillies lineup, maybe they could get away with using him in the No. 9 spot but it's much tougher when patching up multiple other positions. Though Pache's Phillies career is just a week old, it's already fair to wonder about other options like Dalton Guthrie and Scott Kingery.
As for Hall, he is grateful that he won't have to sit around after surgery as he prepares for his return.
"Even after the surgery, as soon as the sutures close, it's going to be right back to lifting, ground balls, one-handed stuff," he said. "Luckily I'm not going to atrophy too bad. It's just about building back and getting the reps."
Hall's absence will push Bryson Stott up in the lineup to help split up righties and lefties. Stott, one of the Phillies' top offensive performers so far this season, hit fifth Friday.
