Aaron Altherr will be out longer than expected with his hamstring injury. He has a "mild to medium" hamstring strain and will miss three to four weeks, Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock told Philly.com Wednesday.
Altherr suffered the injury on a double July 14 in Milwaukee. The timing was unfortunate because he had been locking back in and could have really lengthened the Phillies lineup with Nick Williams, Maikel Franco and Odubel Herrera all seeing the ball well.
Altherr has hit .288 with an .898 OPS this season. He has 20 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs and 44 RBIs in his first extended opportunity as an everyday starter.
It will be interesting to see whether the Phillies use Altherr's injury as a chance to get a look at outfield prospect Dylan Cozens. Cozens is hitting .238/.315/.479 with 22 homers and 59 RBIs this season with Triple A Lehigh Valley. He's been pretty cold of late, hitting just .221 with six homers and 43 strikeouts in 106 plate appearances over his last 25 games.
Had Roman Quinn stayed healthy, this could have been an opportunity for him. But the speedy, oft-injured outfield prospect has been out since May 28 with a ligament injury to his non-throwing elbow.
In the meantime, the Phillies have used Daniel Nava and Cameron Perkins in left field. Howie Kendrick (oblique) could fill that role soon. He is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Thursday with Double A Reading.