Yasiel Puig Injury: Updates on Dodgers Star's Thumb and Return

Updates from Friday, April 11

The Dodgers announced that Puig has returned to the lineup:

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Yasiel Puig has become one of the most exciting young players in baseball, but a thumb injury will keep him out of action for the near future.

In the Los Angeles Dodgers' game against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the 23-year-old outfielder jammed his thumb sliding headfirst into first base. According to Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times, Puig was slow getting up and needed X-rays after the game.   

Jesse Spector of Sporting News joked about the circumstances surrounding the injury and the controversy that has followed Puig to start the season:

Dilbeck also quoted Adrian Gonzalez discussing the incident, who explained that Puig is "one of those guys, he sees the finish line and he just goes for it."

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times provided some good news but noted that there are still more tests coming:

The Dodgers' Twitter account provided an update after Puig's MRI:

According to Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News, Puig was not in the starting lineup for the next day's game against the Giants:

Don Mattingly spoke about Puig's status before Sunday's game (via the Dodgers and Hernandez):

However, Mattingly said that Puig may be able to pinch hit (via Hernandez):

Andre Ethier will get the start in right field with Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford holding the other two outfield spots. This lineup could remain for an extended time if Puig is forced to miss more games.

After the negativity swirling around Puig to start the season, the thumb injury is another setback for Los Angeles' young star. At this point, the Dodgers and their fans are hoping that Puig can get healthy so that the conversation can shift to his exciting skill set. 

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