Kipnis Unlikely to Be Ready for Opening Day with Strained Shoulder

Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis is expected to miss the rest of Spring Training games due to a strained shoulder.

Terry Francona says 2B Jason Kipnis will not be ready for opening day because of sore right shoulder.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) March 12, 2017

He is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, but the good news is it does not appear to be a serious injury.

“We had him DHing today. He could certainly DH,” manager Terry Francona said Sunday.

“He could actually go play second. But because there’s times where he’s feeling this thing, the determination was that we’re going to keep him down for a couple weeks. What they do for the next couple weeks is still to be determined.”

“He is getting better,” Francona said. “Nothing has gone haywire, nothing has gone wrong. But it’s such a long season that taking this approach, we just want to make sure that they knock it out and not get it at 90 or 85 [percent]. That’s why we’re doing this.”

Kipnis is expected to resume activity a week prior to Opening Day.