Crew's Urías (fractured hand) out up to 8 weeks

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers shortstop hopeful Luis Urías could open the season on the injured list after undergoing surgery on Tuesday for a fractured hamate bone in his left hand.

Urías announced the procedure himself via his Instagram account, vowing to “be back soon.” But the Brewers expect it will be eight weeks before Urías is ready to resume playing in games, casting serious doubt on his availability for the team’s March 26 Opening Day game against the Cubs at Miller Park, especially when one considers that Urías would require some exhibition at-bats before he is ready to play in the regular season.

“If you do the math, I’d say it’s fair to say he is questionable for Opening Day,” Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “I think he could get there, or it could be shortly after Opening Day.

“We do not see this as something that materially impacts his season. This is an injury that’s fairly common with position players, and the recovery rate is very high here. Obviously, unfortunate that Luis has to go through this, but not a long-term impactful injury.”

The Brewers still have their incumbent shortstop in Orlando Arcia, who was to compete with Urías during Spring Training for the Opening Day job. The Brewers planned to give Urías “every shot” to win that competition, manager Craig Counsell said earlier this month. Now, it will probably go to Arcia or one of the other infielders on the roster with shortstop experience, like Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, Ronny Rodríguez or Mark Mathias. Stearns said the team believes it already has enough redundancy at the position to cover a short-term absence for Urías.

Dr. Don Sheridan, a hand specialist who has long consulted for the Brewers, performed the surgery to relieve an injury sustained over time while Urías was playing winter ball in Mexico.

When he complained of discomfort early in that league’s postseason, Urías was shut down and ultimately sent to Phoenix for further examination.

“I think we have to remember that players often use winter ball to get ready for the season,” Stearns said. “Many players have done this their entire careers, and they are not used to, and don’t want to take, four months off during the offseason. It’s a balance between protecting the player and also allowing the player to get ready for the season. This is unfortunate. It’s unfortunate timing. But Luis is a guy who has always played winter ball. Frankly, for young guys, we feel winter ball is a really valuable experience. So this is the risk you take.”

Are there worries about such an injury sapping a hitter’s power?

“Our medical staff believes that this is something you can recover from, come back, be 100 percent, go through the rehab process and be perfectly fine,” Stearns said. “This has become a relatively routine procedure in baseball. Not something we expect to impact Luis’ game long term.”

Brewers pitchers and catchers report to American Family Fields of Phoenix on Feb. 12, and position players are to report four days later.