COMMENTARY| The good news is that Austin Jackson isn’t predicted to be out for long. The bad news is that he’s out — listed day-to-day after suffering an abdominal strain in Wednesday’s 11-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins — and his absence is something the Detroit Tigers can ill-afford these days.

Jackson suffered the strain during his last at-bat in the fourth inning, going down in awkward manner, obviously in pain.

“Hopefully, it won’t be anything where I have to go on the disabled list,” Jackson said.

The word “hopefully” isn’t something Tigers fans want to hear right now. The Tigers have continued their embarrassing play, and Jackson, an All-Star caliber centerfielder, has been one of the few constants in the lineup. His defense is one thing, but he’s also had one of the few reliable bats in the lineup.

He leads Detroit with 29 runs scored, a .331 batting average and .414 on-base percentage. Losing the lead-off man won’t be easy to endure. While the error bug has bitten some of the infielders, Jackson has been immune — he hasn’t committed one error all year.

One interesting stat is zone rating. Basically, the metric breaks down the percentage of balls hit to a player’s defensive zone. Jackson’s rating is 10.221, meaning that just over 10 percent of hit balls are hit to him. Expand that to over a few games to get a full understanding of the stat’s meaning.

It’s logical to think that without Jackson’s defense, a long shot to center that he would normally hustle down could turn into extra bases or runs for the opposition. And some of those runs could be game-winners. Just a thought — the worst-case scenario, but one that is possible.

Jackson is more valuable to the Tigers than some may think. Sure, stars like Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander can’t be replaced — they’re arguably two of the most important players in all of baseball. However, Jackson has shown that he’s an important piece to the puzzle in Detroit.

“It’s unfortunate, but things like that happen all the time, but you just have to do what you have to do to go back out there,” Jackson said of his injury.

Adam Biggers has followed Major League Baseball for over 20 years, specifically the Detroit Tigers. He can be found on Twitter @AdamBiggers81.