Mets' Ronny Mauricio fractures left thumb; Bo Bichette might move back to shortstop

The New York Mets lost another shortstop in Saturday ‘s 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels when Ronny Mauricio fractured his thumb while sliding into first base.

Mauricio hit a grounder to first base in the seventh inning. Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel fielded the ball and intended to flip the ball to pitcher Reid Detmers. But Detmers was late running to cover the play, forcing Schanuel to dive into first base to make the tag.

Seeing that he had a chance to beat Schanuel, Mauricio also dove toward the bag and his left thumb broke when colliding with the base.

"It’s tough, obviously,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, via MLB.com. “You lose your everyday shortstop and the guy that comes up that is getting the everyday opportunity here now is hurt. Somebody else is going to have an opportunity.”

As Mendoza alluded to, the Mets had already lost starting shortstop Francisco Lindor to a strained left calf. He is expected to stay on the injured list until late May or early June. Though the Mets didn’t put a timetable on Mauricio’s recovery, a fractured thumb typically takes approximately six weeks to heal.

The question now becomes who gets the opportunity at shortstop that Mendoza mentioned. However, the Mets may already have a solution on their current roster.