The Athletics announced that right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list, beginning July 19, with a strained right hip. Striker Joshua Kuroda-Grauer put on IL for 10 days due to surgery for a ruptured testicle. That’s right Hayden Juenger and an infielder Max Muncy they are remembered in parallel steps.
Leiter has spent several years putting low-end numbers with better grades under the hood. Since the start of 2022, he has thrown 272 innings with a solid 28% strikeout rate, nearly 8.5% average walk rate and over 45.9% ground ball rate.
Despite all those average or better numbers, he has an unimpressive 4.17 ERA in that span. His .311 batting average on balls in play and 13.6% home run to fly ball rate are both high. In a small sample, that may indicate poor wealth. But over the years, it’s hard to believe that his luck will come out.
Leiter is an upcoming free agent. The A’s are 43-57 and 8.5 games back of a playoff spot, putting them in the trade zone before the Aug. 3 deadline. Leiter would be one of the few outright trades on a roster that doesn’t have many. His value would have been marginal to begin with, given his results. This IL entry won’t help, especially since it’s the second time this year that he’s had a right hip replacement put him on the shelf.
As for Kuroda-Grauer, his injuries are rare and not very exciting. As shown in this clip from Jomboy Media, he shot the ball last night and is in obvious pain. Now looking back, it looks like he broke his testicle then. Despite that, he stayed to finish the at-bat and hit a single to center field. He was later removed from the game and apparently needed surgery. It is not clear how long he will be out but it seems fair to expect time to recover from the gruesome injury.
Although under unfavorable circumstances, Muncy will get more playing time in the big leagues. He hit .227/.303/.396 and had poor defensive results at third base until he was optioned to the minors earlier this month.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
