The Reds announced this morning that they’ve placed infielder Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list with a right heel contusion and recalled fellow infielder Max Schrock from Triple-A Louisville. It’s now been nearly a week since Moustakas started a game for the Reds, but because the Reds utilized him as a pinch-hitter both Monday and Tuesday, his IL placement can only be backdated to yesterday (May 19).
With Moustakas now shelved for at least the next nine days and Joey Votto still out with a fractured thumb, Cincinnati is sending Alex Blandino out at first base today. Jonathan India is lined up at second base, with Kyle Farmer at short and Eugenio Suarez at the hot corner. We’ll likely see various permutations of the infield alignment in the absence of both Moustakas and Votto, a pair of key bats in the heart of the Reds’ lineup.
Moustakas, 32, is out to a .241/.337/.437 start that actually checks in 10 percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+, in this year’s woeful offensive climate. He’s homered four times and kicked in five doubles as well while splitting his time between the infield corners. The Reds initially signed Moustakas to play second base, but the emergence of Jonathan India and the club’s decision to move Suarez back to shortstop to begin the year slid Moustakas back over to the hot corner — at least until Votto’s injury.
The 26-year-old Schrock will give the Reds an option at any of second base, third base or left field while they await the returns of Votto and Moustakas. Schrock, just 4-for-26 in a tiny sample of play at the big league level, is a career .262/.326/.351 hitter in 775 Triple-A plate appearances.