The Marlins have placed southpaw Caleb Smith on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his left hip, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. The injury bothered Smith even before his start against the Brewers on Thursday, per McPherson, but manager Don Mattingly indicated it isn’t serious.
Smith has seen his ERA climb by almost a run and a half since the beginning of May, yet he has still been one of the few bright spots for this season’s Marlins. The 27-year-old has given Miami 66 innings of 3.41 ERA/4.18 FIP ball with 11.18 K/9 and 2.73 BB/9. Although Smith owns the majors’ third-lowest groundball percentage among starters (29.1), he has helped offset that with the league’s sixth-highest K rate.
The absence of Smith means the Marlins will have to go outside their rotation for a starter for the first time this season. Health-wise, the club has been fortunate enough to deploy Smith, Pablo Lopez, Jose Urena, Sandy Alcantara and Trevor Richards for all of its starts this year. With Smith going to the shelf, Triple-A righty Elieser Hernandez is a candidate to move into the Marlins’ rotation, McPherson suggests, though he notes they could rely on relievers in lieu of a traditional starter.
no reason not to give elieser an extended shot. he’s killing it in AAA.
Exactly
He’s not averaging much more than five innings per start in AAA.
No Gallen?
What about Hector Noesi? He’s doing surprisingly well in AAA and nearly averaging six innings per start.
Trust me, as a White Sox fan that used to watch this guy, you for sure would want someone else in that rotation.