JT Riddle dealing with shoulder tendinitis
Injury problems continue to plague left side ofMarlins infield
CINCINNATI— As shortstopJTRiddle’s left shoulder tendinitis lingered into the weekend, the Miami Marlins considered but stopped short of putting him on the disabled list Saturday, opting instead to play with a more limited bench.
Riddle’s shoulder has bothered him for weeks, but was re-aggravated when he landed on it during a dive up the middle Wednesday, when he entered the game in the late innings.
For now, Miguel Rojas, back this week from his own two-month stint on the DL, is the guy at shortstop, starting there for the third game in a row Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds.
“We’re not afraid to use [Riddle],” Mattingly said. “I just reallywould try not to.”
The hope is Riddle will feel better enough to play sooner rather than later. It’s his glove shoulder, not his throwing one, so hewould be able to play defense in a pinch. Riddle said he would also be able to pinchhit because it doesn’t affect his swing, though Mattingly said it “kind of gets into his hitting a little bit.”
The biggest concern would be another diving play.
“If I go up the middle and dive for a ball and land on it again, it gets to the point where it’s basically a dead arm almost,” Riddle said. “I can’t really liftmy arm.”
A DL stint would only have to be a min-
imum of aweek— the normal 10 days backdated by three, since Riddle hasn’t played — but Mattingly noted that they don’t have “a true shortstop” to promote in his place.
Utility players Christian Colon and Mike Aviles, who have both had stints with the Marlins this year, are in Triple-A New Orleans.
The timing is unfortunate for Riddle, who thisweekend is in the major league city closest to his hometown of Frankfort, Ky., and had lots of family and friends make the 90-minute drive towatch.
“It’s almost a hometown game for me,” Riddle said. “It kind of sucks, having this go on right now. But we’ll take care of it. We don’t want it lingering.”
Rojas, meanwhile, is healthy. He had aminor scare Friday during a herky-jerky play that saw him almost slide into second, but instead remain standing and advance to third.
He winced at theendof the sequence and stretched his back when a trainer came to visit, but the latter was just for show.
“I didn’t want the trainer to come out, but when he was coming out, I started making fun of him,” Rojas said. “‘You don’t have to come out here. If youwant to be on TV, I can get you on TV.’ That’s what I told him. I’m serious. I’m telling you what happened.”
Closer question
If something were to happen to AJ Ramos — say, a trade — who would be the Marlins’ closer?
Probably right-hander Kyle Barraclough, Mattingly said.
“Claw would be easy to put there,” Mattingly said. “He’s swing-and-miss. He’s righties and lefties. He’s gotten better with the running game, so it’s not like you’re afraid that if a guy gets on they’re going to steal you blind.”
Righties Junichi Tazawa, who threw a 10th consecutive scoreless inning Friday night, and Brad Ziegler, on the DL for now, would also be candidates, Mattingly said.
Odds& ends
Left-hander Dillon Peters, the Marlins’ starting pitcher prospect closest to the major leagues, threw six shutout innings and allowed two hits for High-A Jupiter on Friday. In four games across two levels (GCL and High A) since returning from a broken thumb suffered in April, Peters has allowed one earned run on eight hits in 171⁄ innings (0.52 ERA) with 3 six
walks to 15 strikeouts. … Here’s Mattingly on Marcell Ozuna’s jubilant reaction to pitcher Jose Urena’s extrabase hit Friday night: “Getting O all wound up is always good. It doesn’t take much.”