Clippers’ Stamets rounding into form after injury
IL UPDATE
If it were elementary school, Eric Stamets would have been a couple of chapters behind the other kids in each textbook when he was activated from the disabled list on May 3.
The Clippers’ middle infielder had missed the final 2½ weeks of spring training and the first 25 games of the International League season with a lower back injury.
Stamets isn’t exactly running in the fast lane yet, but with every game he is showing signs of being the player Cleveland hopes can become a utility infielder in the major leagues. He was an triple-A all-star last season.
“You grind because it’s another day,” he said. “There is another battle against another pitcher. Every at-bat is another one-on-one battle, and you can’t carry them from one to another. You can feel good one day and not so good the next, and that’s why hitting is so hard to do.”
Stamets, who graduated from Dublin Scioto, was 4 for 38 (.105) in his first 11 games. In the next 20 at-bats, he had 10 hits.
Yandy Diaz led off the ninth inning with home run and Drew Maggi drove in Francisco Mejia with a single to left to lead Columbus to a 6-5 victory over Buffalo on Friday night at Huntington Park.
Before going 0 for 4, Stamets was batting .239 with three home runs and five RBI.
Manager Chris Tremie said Stamets handled the difficult start like he expected. Stamets is a man of few words and never shows bad body language.
“That’s challenging for a player when you miss 100 to 150 at-bats at the beginning of the season and have got to The Clippers’ Eric Stamets missed more than two weeks of spring training and the first 25 games of the season because of a lower back injury. come in and compete against guys who have been doing this for five and six weeks,” Tremie said. “He is putting together good at-bats and he’s looking strong.”
Defense is why Cleveland traded outfielder Daniel Murphy to the Los Angeles Angels for Stamets near the trade deadline in 2015. Two years earlier, Stamets was voted that organization’s minor league defensive player
of the year.
“He’s a solid player and always plays hard,” Tremie said. “He has good field awareness on defense as well as the bases. It’s fun to watch him play defense.”
The Indians invited Stamets to major league camp for a second straight season, but he didn’t get to show much.
“I got about 30 to 40 at-bats and then didn’t do anything,” he said. “It stinks, but I was fortunate that it didn’t happen in the middle of the season.”
Stamets, 26, has used the experience of 622 professional games and 2,212 at-bats to fight to respectability in the batter’s box.
“I’ve been through multiple slumps and you learn from them,” he said. “I’ve been 4 for 4 and 0 for 4 with four K’s, and you learn about the importance of grinding.”