Middle infield has been hit hard; Spencer Strider and Clarke Schmidt are closing in on a return
Remember how cautiously we approached Spencer Strider on Draft Day, as if choosing him was some flight of fancy that would end with our team in a smoldering heap at the bottom of the standings?
How we feeling about that now?
For those unaware, Strider is set to rejoin the Braves rotation Wednesday after a rehab stint in which he more or less looked like the guy who was drafted first at his position last year. His latest outing saw him strike out 13 over 5 1/3 innings, making it fair to assume that those who took to that flight of fancy will have an ace to show for it. And in the grand scheme of things, the wait wasn’t all that long.
What do you have to show for drafting Justin Steele instead? Sorry, that’s a low blow. Well, hopefully that Pablo Lopez pick put you in a nice spot. Whoops, looks like he’s hurt, too. But hey, at least Blake Snell gave you a nice head start. Oh, wait … nevermind.
As the injuries pile up around us, it seems kind of silly in retrospect to have so disregarded Strider for his, knowing how high the upside is and how short the timeline was. While you always have to guard against the possibility of a setback, the idea that you’d be free of all injury headaches simply by avoiding the injured players on Draft Day was, of course, magical thinking. But whether you drafted Lopez or Snell or several dozen other players who’ve so far left you high and dry (or close to it), there’s no turning back now. The best you can do is make proper use of your IL space, and this article aims to help in that endeavor.
Naturally, the actual order of priority depends on your individual needs and scoring format, but if you’re already overloaded with injuries, these rankings should give you a loose idea who should stay and who should go. You’ll notice it’s less about how long before a player returns than how impactful he’ll be when he does (though timeline factors into my thinking as well).
