Cleveland designated hitter Franmil Reyes left Saturday’s game in the middle of a plate appearance due to what the club described as a left abdominal strain. Manager Terry Francona told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mandy Bell) that Reyes will get an MRI this morning to determine the extent of the injury, “but I mean I think common sense says he’s probably gonna miss some time.”
Reyes was in visible discomfort after taking a big swing in the sixth inning, fouling off a 2-0 pitch and then immediately walking away from the plate and holding his side. Pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow replaced Reyes and completed the at-bat, drawing a walk.
A trip to the injured list would be an unfortunate setback for the 25-year-old Reyes, who is in the midst of a breakout season. Reyes is hitting .257/.316/.576 with 11 home runs through 158 PA (139 wRC+, 141 OPS+), and only 12 players in baseball have more homers than Reyes so far this year. Making consistent contact and getting on base is still an issue for Reyes, but he has crushed the ball when he has made contact, ranking fourth among all qualified batters in Statcast’s barrel rate metric.
Replacing Reyes in the event of an IL stint would be no easy task, as Reyes and Jose Ramirez are almost single-handedly trying to carry a Cleveland lineup that has struggled to generate offense. Tribe fans have long been calling for any of Bobby Bradley, Daniel Johnson or Owen Miller to be called up from Triple-A, but the thought was for one of those unproven prospects to replace an underwhelming hitter like Jake Bauers or Yu Chang rather than a big slugger like Reyes. Despite the lack of runs scored, Cleveland is still hanging tough in the standings, sitting in second place in the AL Central with a 24-19 record.
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