Jorge Soler Shin Injury: Out 4-6 Weeks

This is not good news:

Chicago Cubs top prospect Jorge Soler has a stress fracture in his left tibia and will be in a walking boot 4-6 weeks, the team announced Thursday.

The timing of his recovery means Soler won't play in the Futures Game on July 14.

Soler hadn't played for high-Class A Daytona since June 13 after fouling a ball off his shin. The injury was at first thought to be minor, but it still hadn't healed enough for Soler to play when he was eligible to come off the disabled list. Soler was examined in Chicago by team doctors Wednesday, which led to the discovery of the stress fracture.

There's more information from Sean Kernan of the Daytona Beach News-Journal:

@daytonacubs Jorge Soler has stress fracture in his shin and will be in walking boot for 4 to 6 weeks. Goes to Arizona tmro to start rehab.

— Sean Kernan (@KernanSean) June 27, 2013

So you won't see Soler in New York at the Futures Game, and it now seems unlikely he'll be seen at Wrigley Field any time before 2014. Soler is hitting .281/.343/.467 with eight home runs in 210 at-bats for High-A Daytona and it seemed possible he might be a candidate for promotion to Double-A later this year. Now, with him out till at least early August, that will probably have to wait until next year.

Soler won't turn 22 until next February, so there's still plenty of time for him. Still, no one wants to see setbacks like this.