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March 17, 2016While it may not be with the major league team, Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley is set to make his Spring Training debut with the minor league squad on Thursday, manager Terry Francona told reporters on Wednesday.
“I think we’ve been pretty honest about where we think he is. We’ve tried not to put a timetable [on him] just because we think it’s unfair to him. He’s done such a good job of pushing, cooperating. … He’s a tough kid. For him to be where he is, is remarkable.”
After suffering a shoulder injury with just a few games remaining 2015, the star was shut down for the rest of the season before deciding to have shoulder surgery in early November. That surgery was expected to keep him out 5-to-6 months, but things seemed to have taken a turn for the better recently. After hitting in the batting cages last week, the 28-year-old hit in live batting practice earlier this week before Francona declared him ready to make his Spring Training debut.
According to Tito, Brantley will play four or five innings in the field and a few at-bats in his minor league and Spring Training debut.
Listed as the second-best left fielder by ESPN and best left fielder by MLB Network’s “The Shredder”, if Brantley can return to the starting lineup by April 4 (Opening Day) like he had targeted, his presence both in the field and at the plate would be a huge addition to the Indians.
With the outfield already set to miss Abraham Almonte due to an 80-game suspension due to PEDs, there were a lot of questions in the Indians’ outfield so far in Spring Training, questions that could mostly be answered if Brantley can return by the start of the season.
“He’s gone above and beyond what anybody could have realistically expected that I don’t want—if he doesn’t play on Opening Day, just think about two months ago, we were talking about the first of May. This kid has been spectacular in his rehab, so I don’t want that to get lost. And I don’t want him to feel like we’re pushing, pushing, pushing.”
In 2015, he had a .310 batting average (second among LF), .379 on-base percentage (first), 45 doubles (first), 84 RBIs (second), and a .480 slugging percentage (third) in 137 games before injuring his shoulder. His 2015 season following a 2014 season that led to him being third in the American League MVP race proved that he is a star.
In his seven-year career so far (all with the Indians), the lefty owns a .292 batting average with 190 doubles, 16 triples, 61 home runs, 393 RBIs, 94 stolen bases, a .772 OPS, and just 363 strikeouts.
6 Comments
I trust timetables on a return from an injury less than college football coaches.
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He can’t go on the 15 day DL until the 25th. We’ll want him on the DL as soon as possible, and if he’s actually close to coming back, he’ll play minor league rehab games after that. He has to play major league games now through March 24 because we won’t be able to backdate his DL start date if he plays major league games after that.
When Brantley really broke out a few seasons ago he attributed his production to finally having a healthy off-season and working on getting stronger, not just spending it rehabbing injuries. I wonder if this still holds, or whether his skills are now advanced enough that there won’t be a discernible drop off.
Well it looks like they have about a week to see how he responds and make a decision about opening day. I’d still lean towards no, but at least we’ll be seeing him play in April. In fact, he’ll probably only miss around 10 games as long as there are no setbacks. This is great news considering how all the other outfielders look so far this spring. (except Naquin, who looks great)
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