Eric Thames will undergo MRI for injured thumb

Eric Thames made a nice stop of a groundball to his right by Mike Moustakas in the eighth inning of last night’s 5-2 win in Kansas City, but paid a price when he jammed the thumb on his left hand.

Thames remained in the game and finished the inning but was removed for the ninth. Tom Haudricourt of JSO tweeted:

Ligament damage would likely mean time on the Disabled List for Thames, cutting short his second consecutive hot April. Thames has slashed .250/.351/.625 so far in the young season, for an OPS of .976. He has seven homers (leading the Brewers) and thirteen RBI. He had back to back games last week where his two run homer provided all of the scoring in 2-0 wins.

With Jesus Aguilar off to a hot start there is a more than adequate replacement already on the roster if Thames does require a DL stint. Ji-Man Choi had a great spring for Milwaukee, and could provide a left handed bat to help replace Eric. Choi’s start at AAA Colorado Springs hasn’t been as impressive as his Cactus League beginning, with a slash of .235/.349/.353, OPS of .702. He hasn’t homered but has six doubles in 63 at bats.

The Brewers also have Ryan Braun for first base if necessary, but with injuries in the outfield (to Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain) and poor performance (Domingo Santana), along with Aguilar’s good start (.429/.487/.629, OPS 1.116) Braun has mostly been patrolling left field after early action at first.

Updates will follow today as information becomes available.