Cincinnati Reds Place Billy Hamilton on DL; Recall Sam LeCure, Brennan Boesch

Billy Hamilton‘s fantastic defense has him on the shelf for the time being. The Cincinnati Reds’ 24-year-old center fielder is heading to the 15-day disabled list after he suffered a sprained capsule in his right shoulder (per the Cincinnati Enquirer’s C. Trent Rosecrans) on Tuesday while making a diving play to keep a ball from getting to the wall. Hamilton is expected to be back close to the minimum of 15 days, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay.

To replace him on the roster, the Reds recalled outfielder Brennan Boesch from Triple-A Louisville.

The team also promoted reliever Sam LeCure from Triple-A and optioned reliever Dylan Axelrod back to Louisville. To make room for LeCure on the 40-man roster, reliever Nathan Adcock, who had Tommy John surgery earlier this month, was transferred to the 60-day DL.

Hamilton’s absence leaves the Reds without an everyday center fielder for the time being. Jason Bourgeois is slotted to play center in Wednesday’s game against the Royals, but expect to see some sort of rotation between him, Boesch, and Marlon Byrd moving forward.

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If Boesch can continue hitting the way he did in Louisville, he may earn himself quite a bit of playing time in Hamilton’s absence. In his two months with the Bats, Boesch hit .331/.394/.438 with seven doubles, four home runs, and 28 RBI. After making the Reds 25-man roster out of spring training, the 30-year-old struggled through 59 sporadic plate appearances this season, hitting a measly .125/.169/.143 and striking out 21 times (35.6 K%).

Also making his return to Cincinnati is LeCure, who was a surprise cut from spring training. With his pitch velocity down, the right-hander struggled for much of the season in Louisville. Overall, he’s 5-4 with 44 strikeouts and 24 walks in 60 innings to go along with a 5.25 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. He’s turned the corner in August, however, allowing one run and three hits in 10 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts.

Axelrod heads back to Louisville on a high note after getting the Reds out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in Tuesday’s loss against the Royals. It was an up-and-down stint for Axelrod in Cincinnati. Three of his six appearances were scoreless, but he allowed eight runs in 1.2 innings against the Colorado Rockies on July 26 and gave up a go-ahead home run in extra innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 5. The right-hander figures to be back once September rolls around.

Next: Robert Stephenson placed on 7-day DL