The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
News on injured players is encouraging
Outfielders Lonnie Chisenhall, Michael Brantley and Brandon Guyer want the chance to help the Tribe.
The 2017 season is going so well for the Indians that, after their loss Sept. 26, and if they win three of their next five games. they will finish with their most victories since finishing 111-43 in 1954.
And guess what? It might be getting even better.
With the start of the ALDS on Oct. 5 just over a week away, outfielders Lonnie Chisenhall (calf), Michael Brantley (ankle) and Brandon Guyer (wrist) are racing the calendar to have the chance to help the Tribe in the postseason. Returning for the first round of the playoffs might be a long shot for the injured players, particularly Brantley, but now there is at least a sliver of hope Brantley could be ready at some point in October. A week ago, even grasping that sliver seemed unrealistic.
Brantley has been on the disabled list since Aug. 9 and has not been able to run since spraining his ankle a night earlier.
“Brantley is going to try to run later this week,” Indians manager Francona announced before the Indians played the Twins on Sept. 26 at Progressive Field. “Kind of one step at a time. Let’s see how he does and see where that leads.
“Same thing with Guyer. He’ll try to hit later this week and see how he does and go from there.”
Guyer last played Sept. 14, but he missed six weeks earlier in the season with the same wrist injury.
Chisenhall is the closest to returning and could be in the lineup Sept. 27 against the Twins. In fact, Francona joked Chisenhall was in a room off the home team clubhouse at Progressive Field trying
to persuade the trainers he could at least pinchhit against the Twins on Sept. 26.
The calf injury has frustrated Chisenhall. He led the Indians with 51 RBI on the morning of July 9 — the last game before the All-Star break. He had one at-bat that day in a game against the Rangers, strained his right calf and was on the disabled list until rosters were expanded Sept. 1.
Two weeks later, he aggravated
the injury hustling into second and hasn’t played since. He has two RBI since July 9.
“It’s never fun watching, but the team’s playing great right now,” Chisenhall said in the clubhouse before Francona’s update. “You tune in every night (when the Indians are on the road) whether you’re rehabbing or not. When the team’s in town, you do your best to be part of it.”
Complications from 2015 shoulder surgery
cheated Brantley out of the postseason last year. He would love to play in the World Series this time; if the running experiment goes well, he could still have four weeks to get his game in shape in time to be activated for the start of the World Series on Oct. 24, even if he has to miss two rounds of the American League playoffs.
Chisenhall hit .261 with a home run and five RBI in the 2016 postseason. Guyer drove in three runs and collected six hits in 18 at-bats over 10 games.
Jay Bruce, Austin Jackson, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, Abraham Almonte and now Jason Kipnis have stepped up in the outfield to contribute to the surge that has the Indians winners of 29 of 31 games heading into the series with the Twins.
“Guys have stepped in and done a really good job,” Francona said. “You don’t want to lose guys ever, but sometimes when you do, guys step in and take advantage of it and help you win. That’s the idea.”
Getting Chisenall, Guyer and Brantley back for the playoffs, or even if he gets just one or two of them back, would give Francona options to make the team with the best record in the American League even better.
Schudel can be reached at JSchudel@NewsHerald.com; on Twitter @ jsproinsider.