Cardinals' Alex Reyes Suffers Broken-Finger Injury After Punching Wall in Anger

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes will be placed on the injured list because of a self-inflicted injury.

According to the Associated Press (via USA Today), he punched a wall in frustration after a bad outing Thursday night and ended up breaking a pinkie in his non-throwing hand.

General manager Michael Girsch noted the injury will be re-evaluted in three weeks, but the fact that it's not to his pitching hand will allow him to get back on the field more quickly.

Reyes was pitching for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds at the time of the injury, allowing three runs in 2.2 innings. He has a 2.61 ERA overall in five appearances in the minors.

Unfortunately, he hasn't had the same amount of success in the majors, allowing five runs in three innings.

The 24-year-old is a highly regarded prospect, but injuries have been a problem for him during his career. He missed all over 2017 because of Tommy John surgery and had limited action at different levels in 2018 while still recovering.

Although this season was a chance to get his career back on track, the latest injury is a bit of a setback.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt simply hopes this can be a teaching moment for the young player.

"That's disappointing," Shildt said of the injury. "Life's about growth, right? I know he's had some frustration. He clearly is a guy that has a hunger to be great and has a high expectation of himself."

St. Louis has done fine without him this year, sitting in first place in the NL Central with a 17-10 record through Sunday. Still, the team will hope Reyes can come back to full strength and live up to his lofty expectations.