Hamate bone fractures are not kind injuries for MLB players, particularly for hitters. That little bone helps anchor key ligaments and tendons in the hand/wrist area and, evidently, these are extremely important to hold and swing a heavy wooden bat.
Hamate bone fractures require surgery and a rehab process. Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez suffered this injury on Saturday, and will be out for several weeks as a result.
Exactly how long will he be on the shelf, though? Well, it’s impossible to know for sure, but he is looking, at least, at 1-2 months.
“It’s going to be 6 weeks, maybe 5 weeks. This is an injury that happens to a lot of hitters. Lindor got it this year. Manny Ramirez had it years ago. It’s what hitters go through. Unfortunately, a lot of them end up doing this, and they gotta deal with this. This is where he’s at with it. Because he’s been through it, I think it’ll help because he’s been playing and dealing with it. I think that’ll help. He’s got to be patient until he gets healthy enough. Remember last time he came back, he still had his stitches, and it looked like something from a Godzilla movie. I don’t think they’re going to have him come back like that this time,” reporter Andre Knott said.
"It's going to be 6 weeks maybe, 5 weeks, this is an injury that happens to a lot of hitters," – @DreKnott details the José Ramirez injury and timeline. pic.twitter.com/QYXzDqMdTv
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) June 15, 2026
Back in 2019, Ramírez fractured his right hamate, undergoing surgery on August 26. He made his return to the Guardians lineup on September 24. They say that hitters tend to lose power for a few weeks after getting back into action, which makes sense, considering that a player needs to strengthen the muscles in the area after weeks of inactivity. It didn’t seem to affect Ramirez too much back then, though.
On that September 24 game seven years ago, he hit two home runs and drove in seven runs. So no, there didn’t appear to be much rust. Still, it was a while ago, and he was much younger.
Ramirez does seem to be a fast healer, though, so he could be back in about a month depending on how his rehab goes.
Two recent cases, Francisco Lindor and Corbin Carroll, were ready for Opening Day (March 26) after going under the knife on February 11. The timeline is, therefore, 4-to-6 weeks, but it could be a bit longer.
In any case, Ramirez should be able to return well before the trade deadline, so even if Cleveland falls a bit in the standings, their year is far from ruined with this particular injury. Yes, their postseason odds took a hit, but it shouldn’t be a knockout blow.
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