No player may be more important to the Cleveland Indians this year than Yan Gomes. Between his work at the plate and his handling of the Indians pitching staff, the 27-year-old has established himself as one of the best catchers in the game.
He left Saturday's game against the Detroit Tigers with a knee injury.
Continue for updates.
Gomes Exits with Knee Injury
Saturday, April 11
On a J.D. Martinez grounder, Gomes had a foot on the plate to get Rajai Davis out at home. As Davis slid to beat the throw, he slid into Gomes' foo. The 2014 American League Silver Slugger then exited the game, per MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
The Indians announced after the game that Gomes was diagnosed with a right knee sprain and that he'll have additional testing on Sunday.
Losing Gomes to injury would be a catastrophic blow to Cleveland's playoff hopes.
Last year, he was the second-most valuable Indians player, posting a 4.6 WAR, per FanGraphs. Only two catchers across the league had a higher WAR, while Gomes' 21 home runs and 74 RBI were third among qualified catchers.
Roberto Perez is the immediate replacement. Perez had 99 major league plate appearances to his name entering Saturday. He has hit .281 with two home runs and six runs batted in. The drop-off between he and Gomes is rather stark.
Should Gomes' injury prove serious, the Indians could be in serious trouble, and it's only April.
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