Gregory Santos to IL, plus other Mariners injury updates

Aug 2, 2024, 10:03 PM | Updated: Aug 3, 2024, 9:55 pm

Seattle Mariners reliever Gregory Santos on July 24. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

(Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

BY CAMERON VAN TIL

Seattle Sports

As the calendar flips to August, the Seattle Mariners are dealing with a slew of injuries to key players.

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“We’re banged up right now a little bit,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Wednesday’s extra-inning loss in Boston.

After an off day Thursday, Seattle general manager Justin Hollander provided a lengthy injury update Friday afternoon prior to the team’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies:

• Right-handed reliever Gregory Santos was placed on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his right bicep. The move comes after Santos exited Wednesday’s game with discomfort in his bicep. An MRI on Thursday came back clean, but he still wasn’t feeling good afterward.

“It still feels a little uncomfortable for him,” Hollander said. “We just need to do more tests. And until we determine where we’re at, it’s just not the right thing to do to have him active on the roster. We want to make sure we get this knocked out, whatever it is.”

It marks the latest setback for Santos, who missed the first three-plus months of the season with a lat strain before making his long-awaited Mariners debut on July 9. He exited a July 24 game with knee discomfort, but returned to make another relief appearance on July 27 before exiting Wednesday’s game after facing just two batters.

Santos was acquired in a Feb. 3 trade with the Chicago White Sox to be a major piece in Seattle’s bullpen, but the hard-throwing 24-year-old has made just six appearances this season.

• Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez began linear running in his recovery from a high-ankle sprain in his right ankle, which he suffered after crashing into the outfield wall in an attempt to catch a fly ball on July 21.

“He’s really pushing through at a high rate right now, given that it’s a high-ankle sprain and those can be really tricky,” Hollander said. “Obviously, Julio is generally a fast healer and is younger, stronger and stronger than almost anyone in the world. So he’s pushing it as much as he can. I know he wants to get back here.

“He’s doing great so far. I don’t really have a timeline, because it’s a high-ankle sprain. They’re just really tricky. But hopefully he’ll keep progressing as fast as his body can and we’ll reassess when he’s ready to start playing baseball again.”

• Second baseman Jorge Polanco, who exited Wednesday’s game with a knee issue, received an injection in his knee when the team returned to Seattle on Wednesday night. He is available for Friday’s game, but isn’t in the starting lineup.

“It’s something that he deals with from time to time and it sort of flared up on him over the last week or so,” Hollander said. “… I just think we want to play it smart and play it safe.”

Earlier this season, the 31-year-old Polanco missed more than a month with a right hamstring strain. He had a rough first half of the year, but has been heating up lately. During the Mariners’ six-game road trip, he was 7 for 22 with four home runs.

• Outfielder Víctor Robles, who left Tuesday’s game with a hip issue and didn’t play in Wednesday’s game, is batting leadoff and starting in center field for Friday’s series opener against Philadelphia.

“He feels much better and (we) wouldn’t anticipate any restrictions, other than maybe just making sure he doesn’t go crazy and do something to push it,” Hollander said. “But he feels good.

• Outfielder Dominic Canzone began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday as he works his way back from a right adductor strain. He suffered the injury making a diving catch on July 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays, according to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer. Hollander said he will continue his rehab stint through the weekend.

“We’ll reassess where he’s at on Monday,” Hollander said. “Don’t wanna push it, but there’s a chance that he’s activated at some point on this homestand, which is great and ahead of schedule. He felt good after last night, so we’ll see how it goes through the weekend and then reassess.”

• Shortstop J.P. Crawford, who suffered a broken pinky in his right hand after being hit by a pitch on July 22, remains at least a couple weeks away from beginning any sort of rehab.

“The soonest we would begin any sort of progression is Aug. 19,” Hollander said. “That would be four weeks. That’s pretty aggressive, but that would be the absolute soonest. It just depends on what that healing looks like over the next three weeks or so.”

• Highly ranked shortstop prospect Felnin Celesten underwent season-ending surgery on the hamate bone in his hand. The 18-year-old Dominican native also missed all of last year’s Dominican Summer League season with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Celesten is No. 89 in MLB.com’s top 100 prospect rankings.

“He’ll obviously be out for the season, which is unfortunate, just given the injury last year and this year,” Hollander said. “Don’t anticipate any long-term effect from it. We assume and anticipate him being for offseason work starting in the late fall.”