Virginia's Joe McCarthy is back with a vengeance. (Virginia)

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Virginia’s McCarthy Has Back Surgery

Third-ranked Virginia announced Thursday that star outfielder Joe McCarthy will be sidelined approximately 12 weeks after having back surgery. That timeline would put McCarthy back in the lineup in late April, if all goes well, allowing him to help the Cavaliers down the stretch and help himself make an impression on scouts leading up to the draft in June.

Before the injury, McCarthy was widely regarded by scouts as a top two-rounds pick with a chance to go in the first round. Physical and athletic, McCarthy is a plus runner underway with emerging power in his 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame, and many pro clubs love the way he controls the strike zone and uses all fields. He has 89 walks and just 66 strikeouts in his two-year college career, making him one of college baseball’s tougher outs. McCarthy is also a solid defender with a fringe-average arm, and the Cavaliers were planning to move him from right field to center for his junior year this spring.

This marks the second straight year that the Cavaliers have lost an ultra-talented outfielder for an extended stretch in the first half of the season. Last year Derek Fisher was sidelined in early March with a broken hamate bone, but the 2014 Cavaliers had enough depth of marquee offensive talent that they hardly missed a beat. This year, McCarthy is the clear centerpiece of the lineup, and his loss is a huge blow to a team with national title aspirations.

Blue-chip freshman Adam Haseley is a plus runner who should be able to handle center field in McCarthy’s absence. For the first couple of months of the season until McCarthy gets back, the Cavaliers might wind up playing three freshmen in the outfield, as marquee recruit Pavin Smith and versatile utilityman Ernie Clement could man the corners. Gritty senior Thomas Woodruff, who appeared in 11 games last year off the bench, could also get more playing time.

Virginia should be good enough on the mound to win enough games to stay afloat in the ACC without McCarthy. This team will be in the postseason regardless, so ultimately if McCarthy is back to 100 percent by the time regionals start, that’s what really matters for the Cavs. But for McCarthy, this injury will almost certainly depress his draft stock, as Fisher’s injury did for him last summer. By late April, many important player-evaluation decisions have already made, and teams might be hesitant to take McCarthy with a first-round pick without having a full junior season upon which to evaluate him. Of course, Fisher wound up being a steal for the Astros with the 37th overall pick, and he stood out as one of the best bats in the short-season New York-Penn League in his pro debut.