Michael Chavis tears thumb ligament, could need surgery

UPDATE:

Apparently, there was a bit of confusion involving the actual injury. According again to Alex Speier, while there's still an MRI in Chavis' future, there's no actual diagnosis of a tear yet, with Chavis' injury only being "described as a sprain" for the moment.

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Michael Chavis might be out for a while after tearing a ligament in his thumb during a game in Low-A Greenville this past Saturday, per Alex Speier.

Chavis, 20, was Boston's first round pick back in the 2014 draft. A shortstop by trade during his highschool years, Chavis has played mostly third base while in the Red Sox organization, but struggled mightily at the plate during his first full season with the team in 2015. Strikeouts proved a major problem, as Chavis went down by way of the K 144 times in just 471 plate appearances with the Drive.

That Chavis got off to such a rough start makes this injury all the worse in terms of timing, as he finally seemed to be putting it together so far this season. In 65 plate appearances, Chavis was hitting .356/.415/.576. He had cut his strikeout rate in half, was still hitting for power with three homers on the year, and looked like he might make his way up to Salem fairly early in the season.

It was a start to build on, but one that he might not get much of a chance to. Chavis will undergo an MRI to see if he needs surgery, but even if he doesn't, this is the sort of thing that can definitely throw a player off track. Hopefully if he does get back into the batter's box sooner rather than later, and an imperfect thumb is throwing his swing off, he won't let that lead him down the wrong path and away from an approach that suddenly seems to be working a lot better for him.