The St. Louis Cardinals have placed outfielderMatt Hollidayon the disabled list with a strained quad and recalled righthanded relieverMiguel Socolovichfrom Triple-A Memphis. The move was expected after Holliday suffered a rather serious-looking injury while playing left field on Monday night at Coors Field. The extent of Holliday’s injury is still unknown, though GM John Mozeliak said Tuesday that he believed Holliday’s injury would be less serious than the season-ending quad strain thatMatt Adamssuffered last month. In the mean time, outfieldersRandal Grichuk,Peter Bourjos, andJon Jay, who had been rotating starts in the outfield, will get more extensive playing time and more frequent starts.
At least numbers-wise, Socolovich was dominant in his previous big-league stint this year, which spanned from May 1 to May 28. Over seven appearances spanning 7.2 innings, Socolovich allowed just one earned run while holding hitters to a .178 average, striking out eight, and walking just one. However, most of Socolovich’s work came in mop-up duty. He did not pitch in many high-leverage situations, as he faced 69 percent of his hitters in low-leverage situations according to Baseball Reference.
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Even though the Cardinals’ bullpen did a good job of crisis management followingJohn Lackey‘s four-inning, 12-hit start last night, withCarlos VillanuevaandMitch Harrissoaking up the remaining five innings, Socolovich’s recall gives the Cardinals some extra protection at hitter-friendly Coors Field. It wouldn’t be the most shocking thing in the world if Socolovich stuck around for more than a few days, asMike Mathenyuses his fifth bench player rather infrequently when he has one at his disposal, but it’s still possible that the Cardinals could exchange Socolovich for another position player once the Colorado series concludes.
In that case, several candidates for a promotion could include outfielderTommy Pham, who is 3-for-9 with two homers since he returned to Memphis’s lineup, utility infielderJacob Wilson, who is hitting .278 with an OPS of .897, four homers, and 15 RBI in 22 games at Memphis, infielderGreg Garcia, who is hitting .382 over his past 10 games, and top prospectStephen Piscotty, who is hitting .324 with an OPS of .837 during June.
Next: Tate Matheny, Son of Cards Manager, Drafted by Boston Red Sox
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