MASH Report (5/30/13)

Not a lot of injury news over the last few days. A couple of pitchers return from the DL and couple of hitters fighting through injuries.

• Jered Weaver had seven strikeouts and no walks against the Dodgers last night in his return. His velocity was up, but not to 2011 or early 2012 levels.

It will be interesting to see if he can maintain this level of production on slowly decline like last season.

• Jordan Walden has made one appearance since coming off the DL and his speed is up to early 2012 levels.

All looks good for now.

• Dustin Pedroia has been playing through a torn ligament in his thumb. It would be tough to tell if a player hitting .332/.419/.442 is being brought down by injuries.

Injuries historically bring down a player’s power and contact skills. Pedroia’s ISO average before this season was .158. It is only .111 this season. His 2008 to 2012 HR&FB distance was 277 ft and it is 266 ft this season. Finally, his Contact% is down from a 90% career value to 86% in 2013. Once Pedroia’s .373 BABIP begin to go down, the injury will become more apparent.

• Disappointing Josh Hamilton experienced some back spasms. I am not fan of any kind of back issues. Right now, I think his owners need to hope for a hot streak and see if someone will bite on a trade.

• On Tuesday, I looked at Kevin Jepsen’s velocity loss and new release point. In his last start, his velocity is averaging over 95 mph again.

He was able to throw this hard from his new release point.

Players on the DL

(*) 15 Day Disabled List
(**) 60 Day Disabled List
(***) 7 Day Concussion List
Red colored entries are updates since last report.