Seattle Mariners’ J.P. Crawford lands on injured list again

For the third time this year, Seattle Mariners leadoff man J.P. Crawford has landed on the injured list.

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The 31-year-old Crawford was placed on the 10-day IL with left wrist inflammation prior to Friday’s series opener at T-Mobile Park against the Minnesota Twins. The Mariners have called up switch-hitting utility infielder Leo Rivas from Triple-A Tacoma to take his place on the 26-man active roster.

The placement of Crawford on the IL is retroactive to Thursday, July 30. Crawford missed five games last week after injuring his wrist during batting practice on July 20. He was initially out of the Mariners’ lineup Tuesday against the Dodgers but was pressed into action when rookie shortstop Colt Emerson was scratched with back spasms. Crawford also briefly appeared in Wednesday’s game as a defensive replacement.

Crawford began the season on the 10-day injured list after right shoulder inflammation limited him to seven games in spring training, but he was reinstated in time for Seattle’s eighth game of the year on April 3. He landed back on the IL with a right hand contusion stemming from being hit by a pitch in Detroit on June 5, but that was another short stay as he returned to the team on June 16.

This year, Crawford is slashing .212/.330/.345 for a .675 OPS with 10 home runs, 11 doubles, a 0.7 bWAR, and 50 walks to 74 strikeouts in 87 games. Despite missing 23 games, Crawford is 15th in the American League in walks.

Crawford was showing more pop than ever early on this season, with all but one of his homers coming in April and June, but he scuffled in the 31 games since returning from his last IL stint, slashing just .179/.268/.232 for a .500 OPS over that stretch.

Seattle’s longest tenured player, Crawford recently passed the 1,000-game milestone in the big leagues. This season marked Crawford’s eighth as Seattle’s starting shortstop, but the 2019 American League Gold Glove winner switched to third base last month following the arrival of highly-touted rookie shortstop Colt Emerson from Triple-A.

The 28-year-old Rivas has played 129 games for the Mariners over the past three seasons. He slashed .131/.263/.172 for a .434 OPS with two stolen bases in 38 games for Seattle earlier this year. Rivas has played second base, third base, shortstop, left field, right field and even made three pitching appearances for the M’s.

In 13 games in Triple-A this year, Rivas is hitting .186 (8 for 43) with two home runs, and 14 walks to 13 strikeouts.

Seattle enters Friday with a 53-57 record, 2 1/2 games back of first place in the AL West and three games out of the final wild card spot in the AL. The M’s start a three-game series against the Twins at 7:10 p.m. Friday night. Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports begins at 6 p.m. with the pregame show.

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