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St. Louis Cardinals to recall Magneuris Sierra for Chicago Cubs series

By Patrick Karraker

May 10, 2017; Miami, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Magneuris Sierra (43) celebrates with teammates after scoring a run during the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
May 10, 2017; Miami, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Magneuris Sierra (43) celebrates with teammates after scoring a run during the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Magneuris Sierra will rejoin the Cardinals for what’s expected to be a brief spell as Jedd Gyorko goes on the paternity list.

With Jedd Gyorko going on the paternity list this weekend, the St. Louis Cardinals had the freedom to reinforce their bench, and they’ve apparently chosen to do so by recalling rookie outfielder Magneuris Sierra from Double-A Springfield.

The team had considered bringing up Sierra earlier this week with Stephen Piscotty absent and Gyorko gone as he tended to his wife after the birth of their baby. Ultimately, though, they decided to leave him at Springfield for the time being.

While the move was more or less confirmed by the fact that infielder Breyvic Valera, the only other realistic candidate for a call-up in this situation, was in the lineup for Triple-A Memphis on Thursday night while Sierra was not among Springfield’s starting nine, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jose de Jesus Ortiz confirmed that Sierra had arrived in Chicago on Thursday.

Sierra returns to the majors looking to maintain the ridiculous level of success he enjoyed over his first 12 days in the big leagues. Through his first 32 plate appearances, the 21-year-old is hitting .367/.406/.367. He’s been good–but not that good–in the minor leagues, hitting .272/.337/.407 in 89 plate appearances at High-A Palm Beach prior to his initial promotion, then hitting .263/.268/.368 in 41 plate appearances at Springfield.

Next: Cardinals promote Jack Flaherty to Triple-A

It’s likely that Sierra will only be up for a couple days, going back down when Gyorko returns to the Cardinals on Sunday. With that said, the Cardinals were in a situation very similar to this one just over a year ago, as they called up Greg Garcia from Triple-A Memphis when Matt Carpenter went on paternity leave. And while it was assumed that Garcia, who had hit .600 with the Cardinals in April before being sent down, would return to Memphis as soon as Carpenter came back, he ended up forcing his way into a permanent big-league role by going 2 for 3 with a homer and three walks while Carpenter was away. In the end, the Cardinals ended up releasing struggling veteran infielder Ruben Tejada rather than sending down Garcia.

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