Reports are revealing Giants third baseman and power hitter Pablo Sandoval has broken his hamate bone in his left hand from last nights loss to the Marlins.

Sandoval has been one of the brightest spots for the Giants this season, leading the team in runs(16), home runs(5), RBI (15) and broken hands (1). He’s had a batting average of .316 and has been one of the best hitting third basemen in the league.

Filling in at third base will be 24-year-old Conor Gillaspie, who was just recalled from triple-A Fresno.

Gillaspie has appeared in the majors before, making his debut right after he was drafted in 2008 out of Wichita State at the young age of 20. He only played in eight games that year, but made another string of appearances for the Giants for 15 games last season when Sandoval broke his other hand.

Gillaspie has been pretty solid so far this season for the Grizzlies, racking up three home runs, 13 RBI and 34 hits in just 23 games. His .362 average and .939 OPS thus far is a pretty good indication he is ready for the majors, so I look forward to seeing how he adjusts to the big leagues for the third time being brought up.

Obviously this is going to be a huge hit on the Giants offense like it was last year. Luckily for the Giants, Buster Posey is still healthy and will have to do some heavy hitting to help drive runners in.

There hasn’t been any time table for Sandoval’s return, but a similar injury last season took six weeks (41 games) to heal. Hopefully this one will be a lot quicker, but I’m guessing he will be ready sometime in June.

This injury definitely ruins Sandoval’s chance of continuing his season’s pace of 35 home runs like I predicted in my last post.