Red Sox shut down Benintendi for season
The inevitable finally came for Andrew Benintendi on Tuesday, as the Red Sox placed him on the 45-day injured list, effectively ending his disappointing season.
The left fielder was put on the 10-day injured list on Aug. 12 with a right rib cage strain after he fell while running the bases the night before, but it never healed enough for him to return. With 15 games to play after Tuesday's doubleheader against the Phillies, and the Red Sox far out of the playoff picture, it didn't make sense to rush him back.
Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke talked with Benintendi, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and head trainer Brad Pearson during Monday's off day, and they determined shutting him down was the most logical option.
"Benny understood," Roenicke said. "He didn't really want to push things past where he could re-injure himself, so everybody's opinion, we thought this was the best way to do it. Chaim, Brad, myself and Benny. There's really not a reason to force him to get back to playing at the end of the year knowing that if you're pushing him you could cause something else to happen."
It capped a lost season for Benintendi, who was dismal in the 14 games he played in. He finished the season 4-for-39 (.103) with just one extra-base hit, a double, with one RBI. He had actually created some momentum by going 2-for-3 the night he got hurt, but was never able to build on it.
"Just frustrated overall that this happened," Benintendi said after getting hurt. "I think frustrated would be the right word."
Benintendi took a step back in 2019, batting .266 with 13 homers and 68 RBIs in 138 games. The 26-year-old came to spring training motivated to improve, but he took an even bigger step back. Roenicke hopes Benintendi, the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft, doesn't look at it as a lost season and comes back next season stronger to finally show his promise and potential.
"I'm hoping he forgets about this season part and just remembers what he did in the training camps because I thought it was really good and the way he needs to be," Roenicke said. "His swing was in a good spot. He was swinging for power, he was swinging for average, he was patient and not chasing balls. And I know things changed in this really unusual season so I'm hoping he can forget about that and just work hard in the offseason and get to the place he was coming into the first spring training this year.
"I'm going to look at it that way. I'm hoping he looks at it that way. You know, physically he's doing enough things to keep himself in shape so I don't think that's an issue. I know he was looking forward to having a good year this year after last season and hopefully it's just delayed and he'll come out next year and play well."