Blue Jays’ Jose Reyes lands on DL with cracked rib

Jose Reyes’ rib injury has finally forced him to the DL. The Toronto Blue Jays announced following Monday night’s 6-5 loss to the Red Sox that their starting starting shortstop would miss at least the next 15 days with a cracked rib.

After getting off to a good start, he was hurt swinging the bat on April 10 in Baltimore. It was clear that the injury was bothering Reyes even as he tried to play through it. He continued to play for about a week until the pain became such that he was forced to sit out an entire series. The switch-hitter tried hitting exclusively from the right side after that, he said it helped limit the pain, but had just three hits and no walks in 23 plate appearances to bring his 2015 slash line down to .250/.266/.300.

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Reyes is in his third season in Toronto and it’s the third time he’s had an April DL stint. It was an ankle in 2013, a hamstring in 2014, and now it’s a rib that’s keeping him off the field. The Rogers Centre’s infamous turf is an easy target when players get hurt, though it’s hard to blame a cracked rib on any kind of playing surface.

It’s been a strange first month of the season for the 9-11 Blue Jays. They lead all of baseball in runs scored with 105 even though many of their big names aren’t producing. Jose Bautista (.140 average), Edwin Encarnacion (.172), and Russell Martin (.180) are all hitting below the Mendoza line.

Ryan Goins and the recently promoted Jonathan Diaz will split Toronto’s shortstop duties until Reyes is ready to return.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr