Brewers’ slugger Ryan Braun is headed to the Disabled list for the first time in his MLB career. Dealing with a right thumb injury for several weeks, the Brewers finally placed the all-star left fielder on the 15-day DL, a move that is retroactive to June 9th, Braun’s last day in the lineup.
The injury is described as a deep, slow healing bruise to Braun’s thumb, and has made it difficult for Braun to grip the bat in recent weeks. While it hasn’t really effected Braun’s average, it has sapped him of his power as Braun has not hit a homerun since May 22nd.
Braun tried to continue through the injury, and even took batting practice on Friday to see how well he could swing the bat with a few days off, but there was little in terms of results. Braun described the session to MLB.com saying, “More of the same. It basically has been the same for a while. Everything we have tried to get to the point where I can take a regular swing has not helped. We’ve tried different wraps on the bat, different padding on the batting gloves. We’ve basically tried everything we can think of.”
And so the Brewers and Braun have run out of other options and have decided that rest is the only possible cure for Braun’s injury. Braun is currently batting .304 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs this season.
Braun was the 2011 National League MVP, and finished second to Buster Posey in voting for the 2012 award.
Braun also has other issues as he is one of the players named in the ongoing Biogenesis Investigation. Braun was suspended in the 2012 offseason after allegedly being caught using PEDs. Braun won his appeal as his samples were not treated under proper chain of evidence procedures prior to being tested in the lab, and so the results were considered unreliable.
The Brewers have called up outfielder Caleb Gindl to replace Braun. He was playing for Triple-A Nashville where he was hitting .274 with 15 doubles, eight homers and 38 RBIs.
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photo credit: Steve Paluch via photopin cc
