Guardians place Gabriel Arias on IL with hamstring injury, call up Juan Brito for big league debut

CLEVELAND (AP) — Gabriel Arias was placed on the 10-day injured list by the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday due to a strained left hamstring.

Juan Brito was called up from Triple-A Columbus and will make his big league debut during Tuesday afternoon’s game against Kansas City. Brito is batting sixth and playing second base.

“We’ve been excited about Juan for a really long time. And I feel like last year with his injuries, we would have seen him last year at some point, but we just couldn’t be more excited,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Juan has historically been a good decision maker at the plate. He’s got the ability to make contact and he’s got the power to drive the ball out of the yard. So he’s a complete hitter from both sides.”

Brito — who played in only 31 games last season due to thumb and hamstring injuries — is in his seventh professional season and fourth in Cleveland’s organization. He was 11 for 35 with five doubles and four RBIs in nine games this season for Columbus.

Brito played mostly at third base for the Clippers, but Vogt said he would primarily be at second base while Arias is sidelined.

Arias suffered the injury during the fifth inning of Monday night’s game. The shortstop appeared to get hurt while running to second base on his double to right field.

The injury comes at an inopportune time for Arias, who was 5 for 14 with two home runs and four RBIs in his last five games.

Arias is expected to miss at least a month due to the injury, which has been classified as a moderate hamstring strain.

Brayan Rocchio and Daniel Schneemann will be the primary shortstops. Rocchio had been playing second base during the first two weeks of the season.

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