The Giants suffered their most significant injury of the season last Sunday when infielder Thairo Estrada got hit in the hand by an Adam Ottavino fastball.
The result: a fractured left hand. Estrada has been wearing a soft black cast that wraps around his pinky finger and is optimistic that he’ll be able to heal in four-to-six weeks.
Losing Estrada, who leads the team in Fangraphs WAR, is a major blow. But he and the Giants actually avoided what could have been an even more substantial injury because he was wearing a protective pad on the back of his hand, preventing the most direct and damaging impact.
“For that reason,” Giants senior director of athletic training Dave Groeschner said of why players wear the hand shields. “He was just unlucky. Still broke it, but would’ve been much worse.”
Groeschner confirmed what Estrada felt, that if he hadn’t been wearing the added layer of equipment, the injury would’ve been more severe. The second baseman thinks his pinky could’ve gotten dislocated or worse.
Estrada is just the latest in a string of high-profile hand and wrist injuries sustained from hit-by-pitches. Jose Altuve missed the first two months of the season after breaking his thumb on a pitch in the World Baseball Classic. Pete Alonso sprained his wrist on a fastball that hit him. Manny Machado suffered a hairline fracture in his left hand, requiring a rare injured list stint for him.
Preventative wrist and hand guards like the one Estrada wears aren’t required, and not every player wears one (Alonso was wearing one, but neither Altuve nor Machado appeared to). But as pitchers throw harder — and often sacrifice command to do so — the hand shields could grow more popular. Former American League MVP Shohei Ohtani, for instance, wears one to protect his throwing hand while hitting.
Estrada started wearing his when he joined the Giants in 2021. He figured if he uses protection for his feet, he might as well for his hands as well.
“It was my own decision based on pitchers throwing very hard, and their pitches moving a lot,” Estrada said.
Groeschner agreed that Estrada’s injury would’ve been worse if he wasn’t wearing the extra padding. He said he’d recommend some brand of hand protection to every hitter, but acknowledged that they take time to get used to.
As the products improve with time, and as pitches traveling at empty highway speeds continue to hit batters, more players will likely adapt with more protective equipment.
“Not too many guys wore shin guards 15 years ago,” Groeschner said. “Now most of them do.”
Giants designated hitter Joc Pederson began wearing a protective glove pad after he got hit by a 94 mph fastball while trying to bunt. Pederson missed nearly four weeks with a hand bruise.
Evo Shield, the brand Pederson uses, advertises a product that looks like a backwards, miniature oven mit. Its technology, according to the site, is a “gel-to-shell” shield that protects the back of a batter’s hand and wrist.
Pederson found an old version of the Evo Shield hand protector that works for him, but he still has a visceral distaste for the product. He said it’s inconvenient to put on and off and he needed to modify it to feel comfortable.
“It sucks,” Pederson said. “But it’s better than having than a broken hand or a bruised hand.”
Giants catcher Blake Sabol also found the hand shield uncomfortable when he tried wearing one two springs ago. He’d given it a chance because of how many hand injuries he’s seen, but felt his wrist mobility decline and his swing suffer for it.
What Pederson, Estrada, Alonso, Machado and Altuve have in common is getting drilled with inside pitches. The apparent proliferation of errant inside pitches has rankled some within the game; Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow ranted that MLB needs to do more to protect batters from “clowns.”
“I think it’s just harder to get out of the way,” Sabol said. “Obviously a lot of guys throw really ahrd, harder than they’ve really ever thrown before. I think that’s why it happens more often. Especially with how nasty the offspeed stuff is, you have to keep your shoulder in there, you can’t bail out.”
The amount of high profile injuries on the specific play, though, may be leading to some confirmation bias. The league’s 0.42 HBP per game is the same average as last year, and in line with the three seasons before that; the average has been over 0.4 since 2018, when it spiked to a frequency not seen since 1900.
That doesn’t change the fact that Estrada is sidelined through the All-Star break and beyond. He wasn’t exactly dominating before hitting the injured list, slashing .231/.291/.382 since May 1. Still, he’s been a valuable defender and a threat on the base paths. And the Giants’ options behind him are suboptimal.
Brandon Crawford is hitting .215 on the season despite fantastic results with runners in scoring position. Casey Schmitt is eight for his last 66 (.121) and won’t be able to break out of his slump until he changes his plate approach significantly. Brett Wisely will also get more opportunities, but despite the franchise’s belief in him, the rookie utility player hasn’t been able to translate his minor league success into the bigs.
So, protective glove or no glove, the Giants have their hands full without Estrada.
