Gennett has sore shoulder
He’ll likely be out about a week
Phoenix — Scooter Gennett’s Cactus League debut was delayed Thursday as the Milwaukee Brewers second baseman was sidelined with an injury.
“Scooter’s dealing with a little bit of shoulder soreness,” manager Craig Counsell said. “So we’re just going slow with him a little bit. He’s day to day.”
With the Brewers playing their first official games — split-squad affairs at Maryvale Baseball Park against the Chicago Cubs and in Scottsdale against the San Francisco Giants — there was no need to rush Gennett back.
“I think he’s going to be a week away, probably, but we’re treating it as day to day,” Counsell said. “With improvement it could be faster.”
Milwaukee has adequate coverage behind Gennett, with Colin Walsh starting at second base against the Cubs and Jake Elmore against the Giants. Yadiel Rivera and Hernan Perez also can play second.
“Some guys are just going to play a little more, obviously,” said Counsell. “Scooter is somebody who’d be on a pretty regular schedule.”
Gennett is seeking to solidify his standing with the Brewers after a subpar 2015.
He hit .264 with six home runs and 29 runs batted in over 114 games, getting off to a miserable start at the plate, spending time on the disabled list after gashing his hand in a shower mishap in Pittsburgh and then being sent down to Class AAA Colorado Springs for three weeks.
Meanwhile, Walsh, a Rule 5 draft pick from the Oakland A’s, is a player the Brewers want to play a lot. The 26year-old essentially is in the midst of a six-week tryout, and if Milwaukee doesn’t keep him on the major-league roster, he has to be offered back to Oakland.
“Colin Walsh is a guy we don’t know as much about,” Counsell said. “Certainly we want to see him in games quite a bit. I think also getting him in at the starts of these games is good.”
Walsh went 0 for 2 with a pair of strikeouts against Chicago but also drove in Milwaukee’s first run of the game with a sacrifice fly off Travis Wood.
“Obviously it’s not a positive that one of my teammates got hurt,” Walsh said. “I had already talked to ‘Couns’ about this spring just because it’s a little different situation, and they have a six-week window to make a decision. So I kind of had that mind-set going in.
“Now that this injury came up, maybe it’s even a little more (of an opportunity). It can only help because it’s better to get at-bats now, get the timing and into the flow of the game because these guys are preparing for the season where I’m doing that as well as trying to make a team and make an impression.”
Walsh’s ability to get on base is what appealed to the Brewers when they plucked him from Oakland’s system. He reached at a .447 clip last season at Class AA Midland and walked an incredible 124 times in 619 plate appearances.
“That’s a big part of his offensive game,” said Counsell. “The on-base component to him as an offensive player is a big part. A 100-walk season in the minor leagues is very rare to see, with less games. It’s impressive.”