Health Notes: Suarez, Piscotty, Archer, Clase/Civale
Fortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of negative health news to this point of Spring Training. Let’s check in on a few issues that have arisen …
- Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez is feeling both excitement and some trepidation as he nears readiness to test his recently tweaked shoulder, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Indication remains that Suarez could conceivably be ready to roll on Opening Day. He says he’s getting his timing down even as he avoids throwing or swinging full-bore. But there are also some nerves as he prepares to ramp up. “Just a little bit because I know I have something there,” Suarez said when asked whether he’s nervous. “I don’t want to get hurt again. I have to be careful. We’ll see what happens.”
- After a disappointing 2019 season, the last thing Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty wants to deal with is another injury issue. Right now, the hope is that his oblique/rib cage problem isn’t going to represent a major limitation, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. But Piscotty might be down for another week and it’s beginning to look like Opening Day readiness could be in doubt. That’d be a disappointment, of course, but it’s surely better than rushing back and ending up with a bigger problem.
- Neck tightness kept Pirates righty Chris Archer from making a scheduled outing today, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. There hasn’t been a substantial update just yet, but there’s no reason to believe that this is more than a minor blip.
- It’s a similar situation in Indians‘ camp, where righties Emmanuel Clase and Aaron Civale have been limited. As MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets, the former is dealing with lat discomfort and the latter a sore groin. While Clase is going to slow his build-up to let things calm down, Civale is preparing to throw a sim game.
Indians Designate Leonys Martin For Assignment
The Indians designated centerfielder Leonys Martin for assignment today, tweets The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. The move makes room for Aaron Civale, who is set to make his major league debut. This might be just the first of a number of moves coming for the Indians in the next couple of days, tweets Meisel.
The Indians somewhat surprisingly entered the season with Martin, 31, as their everyday centerfielder, and through the end of April he managed a 91 wRC+. That kind of offense from a plus defensive centerfielder would be palatable, but Martin’s defensive metrics have taken a dip this season (-1 DRS, -3.3 UZR).
Making matters worse, his offense has fallen off to where he now owns a .199/.276/.343 slash line and an abysmal 62 wRC+. It’s pretty shocking that a team’s valuation of a player can shift so suddenly from starting 65 of the team’s first 75 games to designation for assignment – but such is the state of affairs for the Indians in 2019. June has been particularly tough on Martin, as he has hit just .125/.192/.333 this month.
Indians Expected To Promote Aaron Civale
Right-hander Aaron Civale is expected to start for the Indians on Saturday against the Tigers, Zack Meisel of The Athletic tweets. Civale is not yet on the Indians’ 40-man roster, which is currently at capacity.
This will be the first major league promotion for the 24-year-old Civale, who joined the Tribe as a third-round pick out of Northeastern University in the 2016 draft. FanGraphs (No. 22) and MLB.com (No. 24) each regard Civale as one of the Indians’ top 30 prospects. Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote in April that “Civale does not miss many bats because he has limited fastball velocity, but he’s a high-volume strike thrower with excellent secondary stuff, including one of the best curveball spin rates in the minors.”
So far in 2019, Civale has used what FanGraphs calls a “spacious bag of tricks” to record a 2.85 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in seven starts and 41 innings divided between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. He’ll now temporarily take over in the Indians’ rotation for Mike Clevinger, whom they placed on the injured list Friday. Clevinger may only miss one start, so Civale’s first stint in Cleveland’s starting staff could be a short one.