The Angels were hit with a double whammy after announcing the loss of outfielder Jorge Soler and utility player Chris Taylor, both placed on the injured list. Soler is dealing with lower back inflammation, while Taylor has a fracture in his left hand.
As for Taylor, his hand fracture is a recurrence of a previous injury. He broke his hand in June and missed about six weeks. He finally returned to action on Monday but played only five games before a diving catch in the outfield yesterday led to a new fracture, forcing him to start another six-week recovery period.
Taylor has appeared in only 43 games this year between the Dodgers and the Angels, with just 15 of those with the Halos. He has posted a decent 87 wRC+ in that sample and is seen as a viable and versatile bench option, but it's unclear how many chances he'll have to impact the club down the stretch, even with a fairly optimistic timeline placing him back in the final weeks of the season.
Soler missed two weeks due to back inflammation in June, and since his return on July 1, he's been hitting an impressive .262/.360/.595 over 50 plate appearances. His excellent performance at the plate is even more remarkable considering he's evidently been playing through poor health, as he was pulled from Wednesday's game early due to a back injury and hasn't played since.
It's unclear how long the Angels expect the slugger to be out, but his production will be sorely missed on a team that's four games under .500 and 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, leaving them in a position where every game counts before next week's trade deadline.
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