Rough! Just rough!
The Cleveland Guardians got hit with a massive blow by losing their early MVP candidate to injury, however, there’s a silver lining for the former Indians (they NEED to go back to that name). (RELATED: Tri-City Chili Peppers Come Up With Genius ‘Cosmic’ Idea For Baseball Game)
Steven Kwan, an outfielder whose .353 batting average leads the American League, was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday by the Guardians after he suffered a strained hamstring recently while chasing down a fly ball, according to the team.
Feeling tightness in his hamstring, Kwan was removed from the Saturday victory against the Los Angeles Angels. At the time, it was just a precaution, but an MRI showed that he has an acute strain and will likely be out of action for potentially an entire month.
“Super unfortunate news,” said Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt. “We’re going to miss Kwanny a lot. You can’t replace somebody like that, but four weeks isn’t horrific.”
Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, who has had huge role in their fabulous start, will be out 4 weeks with hamstring strain, Guardians say.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 6, 2024
But it’s not all bad for Cleveland.
Sure, the injury to Kwan is most certainly a bummer to a team that’s currently in the lead in the AL Central, but it does give the Guardians a perfect opportunity to promote top prospect Kyle Manzardo, who has been absolutely killing it in the minor leagues. In other words, the Guardians have a potential replacement and can just keep business going as usual.
Kyle Manzardo is heading to the bigs!@MLBPipeline‘s No. 52 overall prospect hit .303/.375/.642 in 29 games at Triple-A this season. pic.twitter.com/R4qUCkCc0E
— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2024
Let’s see what you do, Cleveland.