By Corey R. Cunningham
The Atlanta Braves on Sunday took a hard hit to reality on Sunday when starting SS Andrelton Simmons was placed on the DL for about a month with a broken right little finger.
Simmons was called up on June 2nd, replacing a struggling Tyler Pastornicky. Simmons was on a roll hitting in the 7th and 8th hole comfortably for the past 30 games. Before Simmons went onto the DL he had a .296 BA, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 13 R, and 1 SB.
Simmons’ BA has dipped quite a bit in the past 8 days, from hitting .333 on July 1, to hitting .296, July 8th. Simmons has been a slump, going 4-25 in the first week of July thus far. That is not good considering he has had 10 multi hit games in 25 games in June.
While Simmons is out for at least a month, Pastornicky should get recalled from AAA Gwinnett where he has put his bat together again. Tyler has a .264 BA, 14 R, 38 H, 14 2B, 1 HR, 20 RBI, and 3 SB in 144 AB for the Gwinnett Braves. If you have Simmons on your roster like myself, look to add another SS besides Pastornicky for his lack of performance the last time he was at Atlanta.
If you have Simmons you can easily place him on the DL slot, however, its hard to occupy a spot for a guy on the DL who has the time of experience he has, if he returns the way he did performance wise, or perhaps Pastornicky gets a hold of his bat even more, and the Braves place Simmons in AAA once returning from his injury. Many options to consider, and to be honest, no need to fool around; cut Simmons and plug another guy in at the SS, or MI slot position. Look to add guys of Ruben Tejada, or perhaps go to the trading block and acquire a guy who will put you over the top and head into a playoff run.
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