Cardinals star gives update on timeline for injury rehab

The news on Willson Contreras is bad, but perhaps not quite as bad as it could have been.

The St. Louis Cardinals catcher Contreras broke his arm during Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets. He was behind the plate when he was accidentally struck in the left arm by the bat of Mets slugger JD Martinez.

Contreras revealed to reporters this week that he will have surgery on his arm in the very near future, per John Denton of MLB.com. He added that the doctors expect him to miss 6-to-8 weeks. Contreras is thus hoping to return by the MLB All-Star Game in July.

That seems like good news all things considered for the three-time All-Star. The Cardinals will definitely miss his offensive production as Contreras had been their best hitter this year with six homers and 12 RBIs on a .280 batting average and a team-high .950 OPS. But they at least have to be encouraged that Contreras still has a chance to return in the first half of the season.

Of course, at 15-21 this season (worst in the NL Central), St. Louis could be too far out of playoff contention by then for it to matter. It will now be up to 23-year-old Ivan Herrera and 25-year-old Pedro Pages to hold down the fort at catcher in the meantime.