Yandy Diaz to undergo MRI for possible groin injury

Yandy Diaz left today’s game in the first inning due to left groin tightness.  The Rays doubled in his first at-bat and then advanced to third base in somewhat awkward fashion on a Wander Franco grounder.  Though Diaz remained on the bases and then scored on a Brandon Lowe RBI grounder, Isaac Paredes replaced Diaz at first base in the bottom half of the inning.

Speaking with reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) after the game, Diaz said he will undergo an MRI to determine the nature of the injury.  The issue didn’t begin with today’s game, as Diaz noted that he’d been dealing with some groin problems for the last few days.  The Rays don’t play on Monday, so Diaz will get some time to recuperate and possibly avoid the 10-day injured list if his MRI results come back clean.

Losing Diaz for any amount of time would be a big concern, as the 31-year-old has been one of baseball’s best hitters this season.  Diaz has been crushing the ball to the tune of a .321/.429/.593 slash line over 168 plate appearances, and his 188 wRC+ ranks second among all qualified batters.  Long known for his ability to make hard contact, Diaz’s 95.7% average exit velocity, 13% barrel rate, and 58.3% hard-hit ball rate are all career bests.

While the 31-11 Rays have the league’s best record, they have also been dealing with more than a few notable pitching injuries, such as Jeffrey Springs’s Tommy John surgery and Drew Rasmussen’s recent placement on the 60-day IL with a flexor strain.  Jose Siri missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring strain, but Tampa Bay has been otherwise pretty healthy on the position player side, though Diaz’s groin problem threatens to end that streak.

Paredes and Luke Raley are the only other players who have played at first base this season, so they could form a platoon to take over for Diaz at the position if he indeed needs to miss time.  Vidal Brujan and Jonathan Aranda figure to be the top options for a Triple-A call-up in the event of an injury to a position player.