Fantasy baseball injury report: Cruz, Ramirez, Judge land on IL

There can be no silver lining for those who lost Jose Ramirez to a fractured hamate bone over the weekend. Their first-round pick is now out for more than a month, and no matter how shallow the league, there’s no accounting for that loss.

Worse yet, the injury comes only two weeks after consensus best player in Fantasy Aaron Judge was lost to a stress fracture in his rib and a week after Ronald Acuna’s hamstring put him out of commission again. Between those three and Oneil Cruz (fractured hand), the IL is as abounding in star power as it’s been all year.

Those of us who’ve managed to dodge those bullets can indeed see a silver lining, though, and it’s that Hunter Brown at long last returned from a shoulder strain Tuesday. The undisputed Fantasy ace made only two starts before landing on the IL in early April.

Some others who have returned this week include Cal Raleigh (strained oblique), Yainer Diaz (strained oblique), J.P. Crawford (bruised hand), Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation) and Casey Mize (strained adductor). The list is actually shrinking faster than it’s growing, but it doesn’t feel that way with so many high draft picks having succumbed to injury.

I’ll remind you once again that the order here is more about how impactful the player will be when healthy than how close he is to returning, though both factors carry some weight.