By Chris Brown – STL Baseball Today
It’s become a key theme of the Cardinals season. Now, with another injury, it’s time for the next man to step up.
The Cardinals announced Tuesday afternoon that they placed reliever Matt Belisle on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation and recalled right-hander Marcus Hatley from AAA Memphis to take Belisle’s spot in the bullpen. In a corresponding move, the team transferred reliever Jordan Walden, who’s been out roughly two months with a shoulder sprain, to the 60-day DL in order to make room for Hatley on the 40-man roster.
The 35-year-old Belisle has performed well in a swing role for the Cardinals this season, posting a 3.00 ERA with 24 strikeouts over exactly 30 innings pitched. A veteran of 11+ big-league seasons, Belisle is second on the club with 12 holds and has allowed just one home run all season long. His DL stint can been backdated to June 26, since he hasn’t pitched since last week. Belisle told Luke Thompson of Fox Sports Midwest and J.J. Bailey of KMOV that tests of his elbow showed no structural damage, however it’s not clear at this time what’s causing the inflammation which caused him to land on the disabled list. He began to feel discomfort that felt like cramping after his last appearance on Thursday, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.
UPDATE: Belisle discussed the frustrating injury and his efforts to avoid the disabled list with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“I spent yesterday trying to do everything I could pitch today,” Belisle said Tuesday. “It’s as big a curveball to me as it is everybody else. … If you’ve got little tweaks and you push them and you have adrenaline through a game things can inflame and lock you up. This can be one of those strange moments that we’re not quite sure how to pinpoint yet. I know my body well and it heals strongly so I’m not going to fret over anything we don’t know yet.”
Hatley, one of the final cuts from the major-league camp in Spring Training (as Goold notes), will be making his MLB debut when he gets into a game. The 27-year-old has a 1.69 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 15 walks over 31.1 innings this season at AAA Memphis. With Mitch Harris and Miguel Socolovich spending time at the big-league level, Hatley has seen plenty of high-leverage situations of late for Memphis. Goold reports Hatley will wear #67.
As for Walden, the move to place him on the 60-day DL will not affect his timetable, as he’s been out exactly two months as of Tuesday. Walden had allowed just one run over 10 1/3 innings of work (a 0.87 ERA) this season before his injury, pitching primarily in the eighth inning as the setup man for closer Trevor Rosenthal. Walden is throwing off flat ground and told Goold over the weekend he hopes to throw off a mound within the next week. He’s expected to begin a rehab assignment some time around the All-Star break.
Feature image used under Creative Commons from Ron Cogswell. No changes made. Image License.
