Giancarlo Stanton Sidelined 4-6 Weeks

The Miami Marlins — and baseball as a whole — received some unpleasant news today: their star right fielder Giancarlo Stanton underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and could miss up to six weeks of action. The timing is bad for both the Marlins, who were 7-3 in their last 10 games coming into today and are trying to stay relevant in the NL East, and baseball, as Stanton was set to appear in his first All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby as well. Bryce Harper will take Stanton’s place on the NL All-Star roster, while Andrew McCutchen will fill in during the Home Run Derby.

Stanton, still just 22, is in the midst of a monster season, having already produced 3.1 WAR according to FanGraphs. The slugger is easily one of the best young players in baseball, and is currently hitting .284/.364/.554 with 19 homers, a .392 wOBA, and a wRC+ of 146. These numbers put him among the 20 most productive hitters in all of baseball so far in 2012.

The All-Star festivities will suffer without Stanton’s exciting raw power and flashy tools, but Miami will miss him even more. Currently, the team plans to start Greg Dobbs in right against right-handed pitching while moving the hot hitting Justin Ruggiano over from center against southpaws. For a team that was already 14th in the National League in run production, this development certainly won’t help.

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