Report: Zimmer expected to miss rest of season with broken hand

Amid the euphoria of their 18-game winning streak, the Cleveland Indians reportedly received some lousy news Monday, as center fielder Bradley Zimmer has been diagnosed with a broken hand and is expected to miss the remainder of the season, sources told Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.

Zimmer, who has started 73 games in center field since being called up in mid-May, was slated to see a hand specialist Monday after breaking the fourth metacarpal bone in his left hand while sliding into first base in the seventh inning of Sunday's 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

With Zimmer out, the Indians will likely entrust the bulk of the playing time in center field to Tyler Naquin, who finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting last season but has played just 11 games with Cleveland in 2017. Resurgent veteran Austin Jackson should see some time in center, too, along with rookie Greg Allen.

Zimmer, who turns 25 in November, put up a .692 OPS with eight homers, 15 doubles, and 18 stolen bases in 101 games this year, managing more WAR (1.5) than all but 10 other rookies.

"Zimmer, he's been great. He's been great this whole season," Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "We're going to miss him. ... We've got Naquin. He's proven. We've got Greg Allen. He can play good defense and he can hit. We've seen it in the past couple games. We've got (Abraham) Almonte. We've got (Brandon) Guyer. We've got Jackson. We have a lot of guys and I think we'll be fine."