Blue Jays place OF Teoscar Hernandez on 10-day IL with oblique strain

The Blue Jays have placed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, per a team announcement.  Infielder Gosuke Katoh has been called up from Triple-A to take Hernandez’s spot on the active roster.  The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath reported earlier that Katoh had joined the Jays in New York for Thursday night's game against  the Yankees, and The Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley also noted that Hernandez was thought to have an oblique-related injury.

Hernandez suffered the injury during a sixth inning at-bat in Wednesday night’s game, as the outfielder looked pained after taking his first swing.  Hernandez waved off a visit from the team trainer but then continued to show discomfort after grounding out to end the plate appearance.  Hernandez didn’t take the field for the bottom of the sixth, replaced in the lineup by Bradley Zimmer.

As Longley noted, this isn’t the first time Hernandez has missed time with a left oblique strain, as a similar injury resulted in a 10-day IL stint in September 2020.  That proved to be a mild strain that resulted in Hernandez missing only the minimum 10 days, but oblique strains are notoriously tricky injuries that can often lead to weeks or even months on the IL, depending on the severity.  It was just three days ago that the Jays lost another regular to an oblique strain, as catcher Danny Jansen is expected to miss several weeks of action.

Losing Hernandez for any length of time is a blow to Toronto’s lineup, as the 29-year-old slugger has hit 49 home runs and slashed .295/.347/.538 in 825 PA since the start of the 2020 season.  Even for a Blue Jays team that has plenty of hitting, this type of production can’t be easily replicated, especially since the Jays already lost some depth when Jansen went down.

Raimel Tapia and Zimmer (both acquired in offseason trades) figure to get the bulk of outfield work in Hernandez’s absence, and Cavan Biggio also has some experience as an outfielder.  In the minors, Mallex Smith and Nathan Lukes are potential options, but they aren't on the 40-man roster.  The same is true of veteran Dexter Fowler, but Fowler only signed with the Jays at the end of spring training and is still participating only in simulated games as he works his way back from a torn ACL.