Gabriel Moreno injury: Diamondbacks catcher leaves game vs. Guardians with strained groin

Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno exited Monday night's game against the Cleveland Guardians ( GameTracker ) after suffering a strained left groin, the team announced. The injury occurred during the top of the second inning while he was legging out an infield single. Moreno, who then limped off the field, was subsequently replaced by backup catcher José Herrera.

Moreno, 24, homered in his first at-bat on Monday night against Guardians left-hander Logan Allen . He entered the day hitting .256/.340/.370 (102 OPS+) with four home runs, three stolen bases, and 40 runs batted in this season over the course of his first 85 games. His contributions had been worth an estimated 1.8 Wins Above Replacement, according to the calculations hosted at Baseball Reference.

It's too early to know if or how long Moreno will miss because of his groin injury. Baseball Prospectus' recovery database indicates that players who suffer strained groins tend to miss 28 days on average. Of course, every injury is unique in its own way, so there's no guarantee that Moreno ends up missing that much (or that little) time.

Should Moreno require time on the shelf, it's worth noting that Herrera is the only other catcher on Arizona's 40-player roster. As such, the Diamondbacks would have to purchase the contract of a minor-league backstop -- presumably either Ronaldo Hernández or Adrian Del Castillo . Hernández has past big-league experience while Del Castillo is a former top-100 draft pick who would be making his MLB debut.

Moreno's potential absence would come at a suboptimal time for the Diamondbacks: not only did the trade deadline pass last week, limiting their ability to add an external catcher, but they find themselves in the midst of a close race for the third and final National League wild-card spot. The D-backs entered Monday 1 1/2 games up on the New York Mets with series this week against two division-leading squads, in the Guardians and the Philadelphia Phillies .