The AL Central-leading Indians are dealing with several notable injury issues, as we covered last night. While we wait for further updates out of Cleveland, here are some updates on a few of the other clubs from the division:
- Royals closer Kelvin Herrera had to leave his appearance last night with what the team is describing as elbow tightness. As Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports, though, preliminary indications today are that he has avoided a significant injury and may not even require any time off. Herrera has not been his dominant self thus far in 2017, though clearly the Royals are still counting on him as they attempt a postseason push over the next five weeks.
- White Sox newcomer Nicky Delmonico has broken onto the major league scene with an intriguing twenty-game run. Before he could push for an opportunity in the bigs, though, he had to overcome an addiction to Adderall, as David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune writes in a piece that’s well worth a full read. Delmonico sports an excellent .329/.434/.614 batting line with six home runs over his first 83 plate appearances. More impressively, perhaps, he has drawn a dozen walks to go with just 13 strikeouts.
- Hot-hitting Tigers center fielder Mikie Mahtook may be playing his way into the club’s future plans, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free-Press writes. At a minimum, he has likely locked up the regular job for the rest of this season now that he owns a .288/.338/.464 batting line through 290 plate appearances on the year. It remains to be seen whether Mahtook can sustain that kind of productivity over a full season — after all, he has never sustained this level of power (.176 isolated slugging) over a full minor-league season, and his .343 batting average on balls in play likely will retreat at least somewhat. So long as he can keep hitting at an average or better rate the rest of the way, though, Detroit’s offseason plans will surely be impacted. Mahtook will not be eligible for arbitration until after the 2017 season, at the earliest.
Delmonico has looked ridiculously good at the plate so far. Obviously nobody is expecting him to continue being THIS good, but he has looked extremely comfortable against both righties and lefties, as evidenced by his BB and K totals.
Going forward, I’d like to see him use the left side of the field a little more, but it’s hard to complain about anything when he’s hitting like this.
I was surprised at his ability when the White Sox played the Dodgers. Small sample size of course, but it looks like you guys found a gem.
Lol which Cubs fan down voted that?
Hahaha. Take your pick. Majority are angry at the world
I’m an Indians fan so I’ll agree with you there
yet most are frump fans too who love the world at current
Good read about Delmonico. Very impressed with the White Sox as an org, the way they handled the situation. I hope Delmonico can continue to be a solid addition to their club in the future.
Not a good season for the Sox but there’s certainly been some bright spots. Delmonico, Davidson, Avi Garcia. Even guys like Leury and Yolmer have played well.
You were expecting way too much (and the complete wrong thing) if you think this is not a good season for the Sox. This is exactly where they want/need to be this year. Delmonico, Garcia, Leury, and Davidson playing well is a HUGE plus.
Quibbling a bit here, but I wouldn’t consider Davidson to be playing well. Legit power, sure, but his complete lack of late discipline and poor defense make him a bench bat type on a decent team
Fair enough. I suppose “playing well” is still a little bit of a stretch for him. I guess calling him “serviceable this year” would’ve been better. Or you could say that he has outperformed expectations (or lack thereof) for this year. It at least looks like there could potentially be a big league player in there, which is good.
I would say he’s playing extremely well considering his expectations heading into ST
With most people ripping Detroit’s GM when his moves don’t work out, it only seems appropriate to compliment him when one of his acquisitions go well. Mahtook has been impressive since he took the starting CF job. I am actually disappointed with the team moving him to left or right when JaCoby Jones is in the line up. Jones hasn’t look significantly better in CF, and hasn’t earned the privilege. Mikie has.