Yankees place Williams on DL, add Flores
New York also makes several other roster moves
NEW YORK -- The Yankees made a handful of roster moves on Sunday, most notably placing outfielder Mason Williams on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. Williams becomes the third Yankees outfielder on the DL, along with Jacoby Ellsbury and Slade Heathcott.
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The move is retroactive to Saturday. Williams jammed his right shoulder while diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt Friday. He initially remained in the game but was replaced in the next inning.
Williams, 23, is ranked by MLBPipeline.com as the Yankees' No. 26 prospect. He made his Major League debut June 12 against Baltimore and hit .286 in eight games.
"Like probably most young kids, he'd probably say that he was ready before he was actually ready," manager Joe Girardi said. "We don't want to rush him back. So we just thought, you know what? You're down for 15 days, let's clear it up and you'll be back."
To fill Williams' hole in the outfield, the Yankees called up Ramon Flores from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Flores went 0-for-2 in Sunday's 12-4 loss to the Tigers. He is the Yanks' 25th-ranked prospect.
"I think he started to swing the bat," Girardi said of Flores. "He swung the bat in Triple-A, so we feel good about it."
The team also called up Danny Burawa, who made his Major League debut Sunday then was optioned back down to Triple-A along with left-handed pitcher Jose De Paula. The Yankees anticipate purchasing the contracts of pitchers Diego Moreno and Nick Rumbelow on Monday from Triple-A.
The club had optioned right-hander Bryan Mitchell to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and recalled Burawa because Girardi said Mitchell wouldn't be available to pitch for at least three days, so the move was to get a fresh arm in the bullpen. Mitchell had made only one big league appearance this season, allowing one run in three innings against the Tigers on Saturday to pick up a save.
In the loss Sunday, Burawa gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning and De Paula, who was also making his big league debut, gave up one in 3 1/3 innings.
"He did OK," Girardi said of De Paula. "He saved our bullpen, and that's not easy to go do in your debut. The good thing is he was built up and could do that for us."