The Yankees have suffered their first injury of the year. Earlier today Joe Girardi told reporters in Tampa that Tyler Austin will miss a minimum of six weeks with a fracture in his left foot. He suffered the injury when he fouled a pitch into his foot during batting practice. Austin will be in a boot for the next three weeks.

As these things tend to do, the Chris Carter situation has worked itself out. I don’t mean to make light of Austin’s injury. It really sucks. Point is, depth is a good thing, and the Yankees brought Carter on board just in case something like this happened. Losing Austin does cost the team a good piece of first base and outfield depth, however.

Austin, 25, hit .241/.300/.458 (102 wRC+) with five home runs during his 31-game big league cameo last season. He also hit .294/.392/.524 (161 wRC+) with 17 homers in 107 games between Double-A and Triple-A to earn the call-up. Austin struggled quite a bit the last few years before getting his career back on track in 2016. It was fun to watch.

This is a fluke injury, and the timing means once Austin’s foot heals, he’s still going to need time to get ready for game action. He basically has to go through Spring Training. I suppose the good news is this happened early in camp. Six weeks from today still isn’t Opening Day. Hopefully Austin will be ready to go at some point in April.