Missing 2-3 weeks ‘good news’ for Arizona Diamondbacks 3B Jake Lamb

PHOENIX — There is never a good time to suffer an injury, but it is better when an injury is discovered sooner rather than later — in other words, before it gets worse.

Such is the case with Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb, who on Tuesday was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a stress reaction in his left foot.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating,” he said. “I want to be out there. I worked so hard to get here. I want to play in as many games as possible. But, yeah, it’s definitely good news. It’s a lot better than 10 to 12 weeks or whatever it could be.”

A year ago, the D-backs lost outfielder Mark Trumbo for 74 games because of a stress fracture in his left foot.

Lamb is expected to miss a fraction of that after an MRI caught the injury early.

“When a guy gets hurt, you want it to be the least of the worst-case scenarios, and this was the least,” manager Chip Hale said prior to the D-backs’ series opener against Texas.

Lamb, 24, is unsure when the injury occurred.

“(I) felt it a little bit (Saturday in San Francisco),” he said. “The frustrating thing is I couldn’t pinpoint anything I did to it. It’s not like I got hit by a pitch; I didn’t twist my ankle or anything like on a base. So, that’s just the frustrating part right now.

“But, yes, it started bugging me in San Francisco. We taped it up. (It) felt better, but eventually on that last day, it was just too much.”

Though he’ll in a walking boot for the next two weeks, Lamb said he’s still able to do a partial workout to stay in shape.

“And hopefully by the time we get the boot off, I can start throwing and hitting a little bit more, and then we’ll go from there,” he said.

He’s likely to need a couple of games and a handful of at-bats in extended spring training before returning to the active roster.

Lamb had won the starting job at third base, beating out Yasmany Tomas, coming out of spring training to make his first Opening Day roster.

He was batting .414 (12-for-29) with three doubles, one triple and nine RBI in 10 games.

“It’s tough,” Hale said of losing Lamb. “You’re always making adjustments. You can’t feel sorry for yourself … just move on. He’ll be back at some point, and he’ll be productive again. It’s just (we’ve) got to find some production from some other guys.”