When the Chicago Cubs tell you they aren’t worried about a minor injury, it’s time to panic.

So it is with outfield prospect Jorge Soler, who had been cruising through his stop at High-A Daytona until he took a foul ball off his left shin about two weeks ago. At the time, no one was worried, and there was a question whether he’d even go on the disabled list.

… now he’s out for at least four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his left tibia. That means a walking boot and no baseball activities until the end of July at the absolute earliest. Now for the frightening part: the Cubs aren’t yet willing to rule out the possibility that he’ll miss the rest of the year. Minor league seasons end in late August/early September, so six weeks in a boot plus a couple weeks of rehab and his season would be over.

Hopefully he comes back for at least a month or so of action, but this is obviously terrible news for an important young player who has played so very little baseball over the past three years. He is at a critical development stage, and the Cubs were very likely hoping he could emerge as an option for the outfield as soon as late 2014. That now looks like a dream.

I’m sure there will be more information on this in the coming weeks, but everyone involved is probably frustrated. It really sucks for Soler, but his future remains bright.