NewsHart shuts it down after hand injury
Outfielder's season is done, but sprain not serious
By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
10/01/09 3:21 PM EST
DENVER -- Corey Hart arrived at Coors Field on Thursday morning with his right hand in a cast and said that his season is over. Hart sprained two of the fingers on his right hand Tuesday when he slid into Rockies first baseman Todd Helton's foot in the 10th inning, and the initial diagnosis was that Hart may have suffered a pair of compression fractures. He underwent X-rays on Wednesday and a CT scan on Thursday morning at Denver's Rose Medical Center, the results of which were sent via e-mail to Brewers head physician William Raasch for examination. Raasch responded with good news: Hart had only suffered a sprain to two of the metacarpals in his right hand. Still, Hart doesn't expect to play any of the Brewers' remaining games. He has already spent more time than he would like in the training room this year after spending August recovering from an appendectomy. "It stinks," Hart said. "I started so bad when I came back [from surgery], but I was starting to kind of feel good. Every time I start to feel good, I get hurt." Assuming he is indeed out for the season, Hart would finish with a .260 batting average, 12 home runs, 48 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 17 attempts. He's arbitration-eligible again this winter, and the Brewers hope Hart will revert to his production from 2007-08, when he hit .280 and averaged 22 homers, 86 RBIs and 23 steals. Hart appeared right on track in Spring Training, when he hit .351 and led the team with seven home runs. "Coming out of Spring Training, my first time with my eyes on him, I thought he'd have a tremendous year," Macha said. "But he's had his struggles physically. For me, he needs to start preparing for next year on Monday." Brewers general manager Doug Melvin has a theory about Hart's down year, according to Macha. "Doug thinks that in a way we were trying to get him more disciplined at the plate and to not swing at the sliders going out of the zone, and we accomplished that, but we took away a little bit of the aggressiveness," Macha said. "That maybe sapped him of his power. I'm sure [hitting coach Dale Sveum] has looked at it, and I hope Hart looks at it, too. You have to have that discipline, because if you keep swinging at that ball in the dirt, you're not going to hit anything. You have to try to balance that out. "But we had him hitting second for a big portion of the season and we wanted him to focus on getting on base, and he did. He [nearly] doubled his walks." Hart walked 43 times this season in 419 at-bats and posted a .335 on-base percentage. Last year, he walked 27 times in 612 at-bats and had a .300 on-base mark.Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
