Mauricio Dubon injury comes at worst possible time for the Milwaukee Brewers

Mauricio Dubon will miss the rest of the season with Colorado Springs and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Milwaukee Brewers.

So far this season, the Milwaukee Brewers have seen their shortstops and second basemen go into a funk both in the field and at the plate. Mauricio Dubon, a shortstop with Class AAA Colorado Springs, was one option general manager David Stearns had to address those major league woes.

Unfortunately, Dubon injured himself during a rundown on Saturday and had to be helped off the field.

It didn’t look good from the get-go. He got caught in a rundown and collapsed mid-way through it. He couldn’t even walk off under his own power, eventually having to be helped into the dugout. Dubon then flew to Milwaukee on Monday to get further testing done and it’s been revealed he tore his left ACL.

Dubon was the 10th ranked Brewers’ prospect according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He was hitting .343 for the Sky Sox and had a hitting streak of 23 games. Unfortunately, he’ll have to wait until next season to extend that streak as he’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, the Brewers problems in the middle of their infield aren’t going anywhere. Orlando Arcia, the team’s primary shortstop, is only hitting .222.

Second baseman Jonathan Villar appears to have the position locked down against right-handed pitchers, posting a .303 batting average so far this season. However, he struggles mightily when he has to switch to the right side of the plate and face lefties, accruing a .158 average during those at-bats.

The Brewers have called up utility man Nick Franklin and sent Eric Sogard down in an attempt to freshen things up. However, Franklin also struggles against lefties hitting just .190 against them in his major league career.

That’s where Dubon could’ve come in. According to Tom Haudricourt, Dubon was a candidate to be called up in order to help the Brewers:

Obviously, that’s no longer an option and Milwaukee is forced to search for other options on their roster. And there probably isn’t another option nearly as good.

If Milwaukee were to look outside of their own team, a big name has recently become available and speculated by a big-name media outlet that the Brewers might be one of the teams to land him. Of course, I’m talking about Manny Machado and ESPN respectively.

Machado is a free agent at the end of the season and would likely be a one-year rental for a team like the Brewers. It’s highly unlikely they’d ever make the move for him, but if they do, Dubon could’ve potentially been a part of the trade to convince the Baltimore Orioles. Now, he’s likely off the table.

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Overall, Dubon’s injury comes right when he was really starting to heat up and figure things out at the plate. It also takes away a couple of options from the Brewers and makes finding answers to their major league hitting woes that much more difficult.