Royals Place Carlos Santana on 10-Day IL With Right Ankle Bursitis; Recall Emmanuel Rivera From Triple-A
The Kansas City Royals will be without starting first baseman Carlos Santana for at least the next 10 days as he’s been placed on the injured list, the club announced Wednesday.
Santana heads to the 10-day IL with right ankle bursitis, which is essentially just inflammation surrounding the ankle bone. For now, manager Mike Matheny hopes this isn’t a serious injury that’ll require significant recovery time.
In a corresponding move, the Royals have recalled infielder Emmanuel Rivera from triple-A Omaha. The 25-year-old has logged 104 plate appearances across 32 career MLB games, hitting .240/.298/.313.
The Royals believe Santana, 36, suffered the injury while running the bases during Monday’s 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. After soreness continued overnight, the veteran slugger was ultimately scratched from Tuesday’s line-up.
Without him, the club was held scoreless in the series finale against the Cardinals, falling by a score of 10-0. Four of those 10 earned runs were allowed by starter Kris Bubic, who recorded just one out before being pulled from his start.
This latest injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Santana, who was riding a four-game hitting streak prior to landing on the IL. During that stretch, he was slashing .333/.333/.467 with a pair of doubles and one RBI.
Overall, the 5’11” switch-hitter has posted one home run, six RBIs and a .159/.312/.254 slash line in 77 plate appearances through 19 games. Additionally, he’s also earned a measly 75 wRC+ score and a -0.1 fWAR rating.
Defensively, Santana has spent 17 of his 19 contests at first base, where he’s totalled 149.0 innings. Unlike his offence, his fielding metrics have been quite favourable this season, as he’s put up a +2 DRS and a +1 OAA rating.
The Royals signed Santana to a two-year, $17.5-million contract during the 2020-21 off-season, which runs through 2022. He’s slated to become a free agent once again at season’s end.
In his absence, teammates Hunter Dozier and Ryan O’Hearn are both likely to spend time filling in at first base. It’s also possible that Whit Merrifield could play there as well, although he hasn’t occupied that position since 2020.
If Santana’s injury lasts longer than anticipated, Kansas City may promote prospect Nick Pratto from the minors. The 23-year-old, who’s yet to make his MLB debut, has performed fairly well at triple-A thus far, where he’s hitting .253/.320/.483 with five home runs and 17 RBIs.
23 games in, the Royals currently possess an 8-15 record, placing them last in the American League Central Division. At the moment, they trail the division-leading Minnesota Twins by 6.5 games.
After dropping two of three games to St. Louis, Kansas City will begin a three-game series in Baltimore versus the Orioles on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85