Red Sox: Pablo Sandoval is going on the 10-day DL
By Jon
The Boston Red Sox have placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day disabled list and activated infielder Josh Rutledge to take his roster spot.
Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval is going on the 10-day disabled list with a right knee sprain.
The move is retroactive to April 24, meaning Sandoval would be eligible to return next Thursday, although manager John Farrell told MLB Network Radio that he doesn’t know how long it will take for the third baseman to recover.
Sandoval injured himself after fielding a ground ball during the sixth inning of Sunday’s game.
Infielder Josh Rutledge has been activated from his own DL stint to replace Sandoval on the roster. He and Marco Hernandez will split time between third and second, depending on how healthy Dustin Pedroia is. If Pedroia can play, then Hernandez should be our starting third baseman and Rutledge can be the backup.
The #RedSox today placed 3B Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to April 24) with a right knee sprain.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 25, 2017
Hernandez has continued his hot spring into his limited at-bats so far this season. The lefty bat is hitting .286 with 2 RBIs. His splits against lefty and righty are very even. He is hitting the same .286 against both. He is 21-for-22 against a right-hander and 14-for-15 against left-handed pitching.
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Rutledge hasn’t played at all this season and shouldn’t be thrown in this quickly. He needs some at-bats before he can be announced as the starter or platoon player.
Rutledge last year hit .265 in 28 games. He has been on a rehab assignment before being called up and he went 1-for-12 with a home run in five games.
No matter who gets chosen to play third base, it safe to say that the team won’t be losing a lot of production at that position. Sandoval does lead the team with three home runs and has 10 RBIs as well, but his hitting and defense has failed.
Sandoval is hitting .213 with a .646 OPS and .377 SLG for his 17 games so far a season. He also has made four errors. The hitting has been non-existent to very streaky of late. He hasn’t showed that his defensive problems are gone or that he can consistently hit.
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Hopefully, this DL stint gets him going in the right direction.