There will be no 4th of July fireworks for Shin-Soo Choo who leads the Cleveland Indians with 13 Home Runs. Fan favorite Choo was placed on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to July 3rd. He suffered a Right thumb sprain while attempting a diving catch in right field Friday night against the Oakland A’s.
Michael Brantley was called up from Triple A Columbus to fill the outfield spot.
Choo was likely to be the Indians lone All-Star pick for the 2010 season. The Indians right fielder was batting .286 with 48 runs scored, 13 dingers, 14 Doubles, 2 Triples and 43 RBI’s in the 78 games this season.
Now who can represent the Tribe in the Mid-Summer Classic? Is there anyone worthy? Or will we just be sending a body there to fill the role. And should MLB change the rule that each team must have 1 player on the roster? All questions that can be debated over and over.
Possible replacements will be Austin Kearns with his .272 BA, 7 HR and 34 RBI’s. Fausto Carmona who has a 7-6 record and 3.68 Earned Run Average or Mitch Talbot with 8 wins and a 3.86 ERA. While none of these stats will light up the sky, one of them may be going to Anaheim for the All-Star game on July 13th. The Tribe’s best offensive player Carlos Santana only has 67 At-Bats otherwise he would be the clear choice, and worthy of the pick.
The Indians will be juggling outfielders for the next 15 days. The starters will mostly be Brantley, Trevor Crowe, and Austin Kearns. With Shelley Duncan providing back-up. The teams 3 best defenders are all on the DL, gold glove Center fielder Grady Sizemore, Short Stop Asdrubal Cabrera and now, Choo.
Michael Brantley started the season in the Bigs, but struggled and was sent down to Triple A Columbus on April 19th. Since then he has hit .315 with 9 Doubles, 2 Triples, 3 Homers and 26 RBI’s in 59 games along with 11 stolen bases.
It was just a matter of time before Brantley joined the major league team again, but the Indians did not want it to be because of an injury. Now it will be up to Brantley to prove that he belongs here full time.
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