Cardinals Place Brandon Moss On DL, Recall Randal Grichuk

The Cardinals have placed slugger Brandon Moss on the 15-day DL with an ankle injury, per a team announcement. He’ll be replaced by Randal Grichuk, who had been working out some kinks at the Triple-A level on optional assignment.

[Related: Updated Cardinals Depth Chart]

Moss has been fantastic this year after a down 2015 campaign, swatting 17 home runs and posting a strong .251/.340/.562 slash over 250 plate appearances. St. Louis has utilized him at first base and the corner outfield, making him a reasonably versatile piece as well. Though Moss doesn’t add value with the glove, he has been a major contributor for St. Louis.

It’s not yet clear how long Moss will be out, but the injury doesn’t sound terribly significant and he’ll get to rest up over the All-Star break. St. Louis will miss the bat, of course, but it has options on hand to pick up the slack.

Matt Adams has enjoyed a nice bounceback season as well, and figures to take the bulk of the load at first base. And Grichuk is a better call-up candidate than most teams have handy for the outfield, though he’ll need to effect his own recovery after a difficult first half.

Grichuk entered the year as the Cards’ regular center fielder, fresh off of a highly-promising season. But he’s been nearly half as productive at the plate as he was in 2015, slashing just .206/.276/.392 over 225 plate appearances. Since being demoted, the 24-year-old has hit for plenty of power in his fifty turns at the plate at Triple-A. But he still ran up a meager .280 on-base percentage and will need to continue to develop in that area if he’s to regain a regular role.