Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton will miss the next four to six weeks after having surgery for a hamate (hand) fracture, per MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.
If there is good news, it's that there is no ligament damage, but it's obviously a huge blow for the Marlins offense.
Playing in 74 of the team's first 75 games, Stanton currently has 27 home runs with 67 runs batted in, both of which lead all of baseball. Easily on pace to shatter his previous career highs of 37 HRs and 105 RBI, Stanton has hit a home run per every 10.33 at bats this season.
Stanton's K% of 29.9 is the fourth-worst in baseball and his highest since his rookie season (31.1%), but his .341 ISO is also a career high and second-best in baseball behind Bryce Harper (.379).
As productive as Stanton has been offensively, the Marlins still rank only 24th in baseball in runs scored (277).
In addition, the Marlins rank just 20th in home runs hit (62), which means that Stanton has hit 43.5 percent of the team's home runs. First baseman Justin Bour (six HRs) is the only other Marlins hitter with at least five home runs this season.
Losers of five consecutive games and eight of their past nine games, the Marlins are 15 games below .500 and only the Brewers (.373) and Phillies (.347) have a lower winning percentage than the Marlins (.400).
