Arizona coach Jay Johnson announced after Tuesday night’s win against New Mexico State that junior center fielder Matt Frazier will be out with a hand injury.

Frazier did not play in Tuesday’s game after he broke a bone in his right hand on Sunday in his second to last at bat while swinging, and will undergo surgery to repair it. The injury is a hamate bone injury, which Johnson called a common baseball injury.

“They will take that out and you have to let the skin re-heal and we will be really aggressive with the treatment,” the UA head coach said.

Frazier, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound Fresno, California native, has a .412 batting average and has totaled 35 hits and 28 RBIs this season for the Wildcats.

“We’ll see where it goes, and we’ll try to get him back as fast as we can.” Johnson said Tuesday night. “I’ve heard varying degrees of the time table. I know I have a very hungry player. If you want a comparison, it’s like losing a quarterback that is averaging 400 yards a game and throwing five touchdowns or whatever Steph Curry or Lebron James do averaging 32 a night.”

Johnson explained this loss is a big blow for Arizona, but also assured that he is confident in his position players that will play in place of Frazier during the recovery process.

“Luckily we have some depth on the position player side of it, but you can’t really quantify losing Matt right now,” Johnson said. “I mean, he was really coming into his own and it hurts, but he is committed to trying to get back. I don't know if it’s four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, I don't know if it is the entire year. I feel bad for him, but we got to push on.”

It is unfortunate timing for the injury not just for Arizona but also for Frazier who has been the Wildcats’ best overall player this season.

“I think Matt was playing to the vision we thought he would get to when we recruited him, and probably even a little bit more,” Johnson said. “… He is all over the leaders across the country in a ton of categories. And, it’s not just that, he’s a really dynamic player that affects the game in a lot of ways.”

Sophomore catcher and utility player Matthew Dyer, who has a .333 batting average and has totaled 22 hits and 19 RBIs this season, is just one of the players who could see his role change as a result of the injury to Frazier. He also understands what the loss means for a team that could use all of its pieces heading into a difficult part of the schedule.

“He’s one of our big time leaders,” Dyer, who played in the outfield in Tuesday’s game, said. “He is a guy who brings energy everyday. He’s a spark plug in the lineup. It’s definitely an effect, but we have him in the dugout still – like tonight – and he is one of those guys who wants to see his team win more than he wants to succeed and it goes a long way with him.

“For me, as one of his teammates and one of his good buddies, it’s cool to see him out here and still care as much as he does because he truly cares about our team and cares about each one of us just as much as he cares about himself. It’s something we are going to have to get through for sure.”

Arizona heads to Los Angeles to face No. 1-ranked UCLA for a weekend series starting Friday and will not return home to Hi Corbett Field until April 5 after playing San Diego State and ASU on the road in what will be a seven-game road trip for the Wildcats. First pitch for Friday night's series opener with the Bruins is set for 6 p.m. MST