On Sunday night when the Cleveland Indians faced the Baltimore Orioles on ESPN Indians center fielder Bradley Zimmer, suffered a hand injury.
On Monday, the Indians decided that they will test Jason Kipnis in center field once he comes off of the Disabled List according to Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. When Kipnis was drafted in 2009 by the Indians, he was drafted as an outfielder.
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona had this to say about the center field situation:
“We’re always trying to turn something that could be a negative into a positive. So I talked to Kipnis today. And because he’s a week or so out (from being activated), and feeling pretty good physically, the fact that he was an outfielder in college, he’s going to go work with Millsie. If he gets to the point where he’s comfortable enough to do it, we might play him out there a little bit just to see how he does. If he’s able to handle it, all of a sudden you go from moving somebody out of the infield (to put Kipnis back at second base) — because we’ve got a really good thing going there — to adding his bat in the lineup in center field.”
Francona finished with the following :
“So, again, it’s not a lock. But the fact that he was willing to try it, is really meaningful to us. And we appreciate it. And my guess is that he’s probably pretty good. He’s so athletic in going to get balls in the air, I think he’s going to have some fun doing it. So, he seemed excited.”
With Kipnis’ recent injury situation it makes the possible move interesting. Kipnis has been out twice this season with a hamstring injury and missed early on in the season with a strained rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
Jason Kipnis had this to say on playing center field:
Jason Kipnis said this is the first time he's discussed playing the outfield with Francona… pic.twitter.com/HWuHf1OGxo
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 11, 2017
*Quotes from Cleveland.com and Jordan Bastian of MLB.com*
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