More offensive trouble for the struggling Nats: James Wood has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a mild oblique strain.
To replace him on the active roster, the Nats called up OF Andrew Pinckney from Triple-A Rochester.
Wood left Monday’s loss to the Phillies after feeling discomfort on a swing, and an MRI showed a ‘subtle, mile oblique strain on the left side’ according to manager Blake Butera.
“We think it won’t be very extreme. But we do think it will take at least the 10 days, which is why we’re IL-ing him,” Butera said. “I was actually pretty happy [with the diagnosis]; any time someone feels their side on a swing, I haven’t been around many where the results came back this good. There’s been some obliques that people have missed 3-4 months because of these things.”
Wood has been an iron man for the Nats, playing all 114 games through Monday, and was an All-Star on the back of a line that saw him slashing .263/.393/.535 with 30 homers, 73 RBI, 17 steals, and a league-leading 100 runs scored and 90 walks through Monday.
“Obviously, it's not what you want to hear,” Wood said. “But I feel like I’m in good hands here. Hopefully, once we get off [the IL], we'll be in better shape. Everything we do in this sport is rotation, so the fact I heard the doctor had to really look for it to find it is a good thing.”
Still, even a short IL stint is a blow to a Nats offense that traded Curtis Mead and Luis Garcia Jr. ahead of Monday’s trade deadline, and now is without Wood until at least late next week.
It’s not easy, but we’ve also had some other guys in our lineup that have swung the bats well and have gotten us to this point with how well our offense has played,” Butera said. “Hopefully, this is a short-term thing with James. But at least over the next 10 days, it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up. We need to have the next-man-up mentality.”
Pinckney, 25, played 94 games in Triple-A this year, slashing .271/.345/.425 with 13 home runs, 51 RBI and 18 stolen bases.
OF Andrew Pinckney recalled from Triple-A to replace him
OF Andrew Pinckney recalled from Triple-A to replace him
