On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays placed center fielder José Siri on the 10-day Injured List with a right hamstring strain. Utilityman Vidal Bruján has been called up from Triple-A to take Siri’s place on the active roster.
Siri was hurt as he made a leaping catch in deep center on a drive by Seth Brown in the eighth inning of Friday night’s contest. He stayed in the game.
His hamstring is a little cranky. On the play by the wall, he grabbed it. I don’t think he thought it was that bad. He said that he felt a tug, but he was kind of, you know, he’s hot, heated up in the moment. Then this morning he woke up and it was a little more sore than what we were hoping for.
…We’ll give it a couple of days. We really can’t tell until that first week how he’s responding. But knowing him, he’ll bust it (in) treatment and rehab, and we’ll try to get him back as soon as possible. He’s a big, big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.
— Kevin Cash
Siri, 24, has blasted out of the gates with a .318 BA/.333 OBP/.682 SLG/1.015 OPS slash line, with two home runs and a 172 wRC+ in his first 24 plate appearances of the season, while starting six of seven games in center field. There wasn’t much doubt in Siri’s glovework, although his breakout in the batter’s box — albeit across a very small sample size — is extremely promising.
The Rays have depth options in place to fill in for injured players; Manuel Margot, Josh Lowe, or Brujan are likely to see time in center until April 18, when Siri is expected to return.