Things are different in the National League, Gordon Beckham is learning. Even getting hurt.
The Braves placed the veteran infielder on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained left hamstring and after spending seven years in the American League, Beckham just took a lesson on when it is best to sit down in the NL.
Without a designated hitter in the lineup, every bench player in the NL is a most important commodity. In the AL, it can be easier to hide a slightly injured player on the bench for a week while hoping he recovers quickly.
“I know it’s a little different in the National League than it is in the American League,” Beckham said. “I feel like in the American League, maybe something like this you could stretch out a little bit and manage it that way. But we got to have guys up here, and I get it. We’ll hope to be ready in 15 days or whatever day I come off and be ready to roll.”
An MRI confirmed there was no tear in the muscle and the pull is limited to the outside of the left hamstring. But since he injured the same muscle in spring training, the club determined it more prudent to hold him out.
“He doesn’t seem to think it’s a bad one,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He had a little bit of it in spring training, so I think we’ll take it slower.”
It marks the third year Beckham has spent time on the DL after a virtually injury-free start to his eight-year career. He broke the hamate bone on his left wrist in 2013 and was sidelined by a strained oblique in 2014.
After hitting a solid .357 in spring camp, Beckham started the season in 1-for-9 skid before heating up last week. In the five games leading up to his injury, he was 6-for-16 (.375) with a double and four RBIs.
“Getting in there every day and playing and doing some good things, helping the team win, it’s never good timing (to get hurt),” he said. “But it is what it is. I’m going to take it as a chance to my body rested up and get ready to go and hopefully not visit the DL the rest of the year and hopefully pick up where I left off.”
He is eligible to come off the DL on May 2.
