The Guardians introduced that they’ve chosen the contract of catcher Dom Nuñez. Fellow backstop Austin Hedges has been positioned on the seven-day concussion-related injured checklist. Proper-hander Andrew Walters has been transferred to the 60-day injured checklist to open a 40-man spot.
Guardians supervisor Stephen Vogt spoke on the Hedges state of affairs right this moment, with video relayed by Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. Vogt says that Hedges was hit within the head by a backswing from Jazz Chisholm Jr. on Wednesday evening (video of the incident from MLB.com). Vogt says that Hedges was experiencing some “low-level concussion signs” yesterday which haven’t gone away. Vogt provides that the membership needs to be cautious because of earlier concussions suffered by Hedges. In keeping with his MLB.com transaction tracker, Hedges has beforehand gone on the IL for a concussion in 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Concussions are likely to get extra harmful with every subsequent incident, so the warning is comprehensible.
Hedges has been backing up Bo Naylor on the catcher place this yr however Nuñez will now tag in and take over that job whereas Hedges recovers. Calling up Nuñez was mandatory as a result of the Guards beforehand had simply Hedges and Naylor as the 2 catchers on their 40-man roster. David Fry has catching expertise however is proscribed to designated hitter duties this yr because of present process elbow surgical procedure in November.
The 30-year-old Nuñez signed a minor league take care of the Guards within the offseason. He has been enjoying on the Triple-A stage since then, placing up a line of .136/.266/.369 in 32 video games. That’s not a reasonably slash however it’s held again by a .131 batting common on balls in play. Nuñez has six house runs and has been drawing walks at a 13.6% clip, although he’s additionally been placing out 30.4% of the time.
His main league monitor report consists of 111 video games with the Rockies over the 2019-22 interval. He hit simply .180/.280/.373 in that point however typically acquired strong marks for his protection. Nuñez nonetheless has one choice remaining and may very well be simply despatched again all the way down to Triple-A when Hedges will get wholesome.
As for Walters, he landed on the 15-day IL every week in the past because of a lat pressure. His present standing is unclear however it seems that the Guardians don’t anticipate him again anytime quickly. With this switch, he can’t be reinstated till 60 days from his preliminary IL placement, which suggests late July.
Photograph courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Imagn Pictures
