Jose Reyes made it 10 games last season before getting hurt. This year, he made it one at-bat.
Reyes led off the game for the Jays against Tampa Bay, and was robbed of a hit on a tailing liner on a diving catch by Desmond Jennings. He jogged off the field looking like everything was fine — there was no noticeable limp as he ran down the first base line — but didn’t come out of the dugout for the bottom half of the inning. He was replaced by Ryan Goins at shortstop, and Toronto went on to lose 9-2. After the game, Reyes was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
Reyes strained his left hamstring in a spring game nine days ago, but evidently the MRI didn’t show enough to warrant a trip to the DL back then. After that MRI, he was held out of action until Toronto’s last two exhibition games in Montreal over the weekend. Now he’s due to get another MRI today.
Reyes missed 66 games last season with a severe ankle sprain, and has only played in one full season in the past five. When he was on the field for the Jays last year, he hit .296/.353/.427.
In Reyes’ absence, Maicer Izturis and Ryan Goins figure to cover most of the time in the middle infield. The Jays called up Jonathan Diaz to take Reyes’ spot on the roster, taking him instead of Munenori Kawasaki, who filled in for Reyes last season, hitting .229/.326/.308.
Asked why he played in Toronto’s last couple exhibition games if the hamstring wasn’t 100%, Reyes said he felt good enough to get back on the field:
“It was good enough to play, but I didn’t really test my leg running anywhere there … I didn’t get on base, I didn’t do nothing. I just tried to play through the little soreness there in my hamstring, but when you deal with that, you have to be careful.
“I thought I could play through it. Sometimes you’re not 100 percent and you feel like you can play, but that wasn’t the case.”
By having Reyes play in those games and the Opener, they messed up an opportunity to backdate Reyes’ DL stint to the time he initially got hurt. Now he’ll be on the shelf for at least two weeks of the regular season.
