Injuries Recap

H'ville, Tn (AP) - While May was a successful month it was a injury filled month.  The offense suffered two huge losses when RF John Prowse went down with a broken bone in his elbow while beating out an infield single (?  maybe slide into first?) and will miss the rest of the season.  At the time of injury Prowse was playing lights out.  He had a .338/.455/.967 slash line in May at time of the injury. 

The injury causes an OF shuffle as Padilla moves from CF to RF, Burkholder moves to LF fulltime and rookie CF Luis Rodríguez moves into the starting CF position.  Rodriguez has filled in nicely as he has posted a .301/.352/.837 slash line with 4 HR, 17 RBI, 16 2Bs and 13 SB in 36 starts.

Just 3 days later C "Dirty" Hernández was hit in the face on 1-2 count by New Orleans Looters Bill Maddux fracturing his cheekbone and will be out 4-6 weeks.  "Dirty" was leading the team and 6th in BSA in HR's with 14 while 2nd on team and 3rd in BSA in RBIs with 45 at time of the injury.  

Filling in for "Dirty" is last year's starter Anastasio López who has been playing at an amazing level since taking over as starter.  Lopez is hitting .321, .444 OBP and .967 OPS with 4 HRs, 16 HRs, 7 2Bs, 17 BB, 18 R.

In the first week of June RF Luis Padilla strained his oblique that caused him to miss 6 games (Haddonfield/Jersey series), but is back in the lineup tonight vs the Looters.

The starting rotation has also been a little banged up as SP Art Ellis' elbow flared up on him causing him to leave his start vs Boston in the 2nd and then miss his next start.  Just a couple of days later SP Walter Bamber left his start vs Haddonfield after 5 innings with wrist soreness that will force him to miss at least 2 starts.

With the recent trade to acquire SP Mike Haward the Hitmen have a the luxury to carry 6 very good SP with Carlos Arévalo filling in for Ellis and Bamber.


June PR2