Could Yasiel Puig be an injury replacement on NL All-Star team?

A jammed left thumb will prevent Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves from playing in the All-Star game, raising a small possibility that Yasiel Puig could be invited to the midsummer exhibition in New York.

Puig finished second to Freeman in fan balloting for the final spot on the National League roster.

But Freeman’s injury doesn’t guarantee Puig a place on the team. The task of replacing injured players falls on the All-Star manager, in this case Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants. Bochy told reporters in San Diego that he is leaning toward replacing Freeman with a catcher.

There’s another problem: Puig himself is injured.

[Update, 2:05 p.m.: Braves catcher Brian McCann has been selected to replace Freeman on the All-Star team.]

Puig will be out of the Dodgers’ lineup for the second consecutive day on Sunday. He has a sore left hip that he bruised colliding into a wall in Colorado on July 3.

Puig and Carl Crawford, who is nursing a stiff lower back, should be able to pinch hit or enter the game as a late-game replacement, according to Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly.

“If I can stay away from him, I’d like to be able to,” Mattingly said.

Mattingly said he hasn’t heard anything about the possibility of Puig participating in the All-Star game.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense right now,” Mattingly said. “If your guy’s hurt, usually you don’t go to the All-Star game.”

But Mattingly said that if Puig is recovered, he doesn’t mind him playing in the All-Star game.

“I don’t care if he goes, as long as he’s healthy,” Mattingly said.