DENVER -- Outfielder Jordan Beck’s already difficult season was put on pause Monday when the Rockies placed him on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. Catcher Braxton Fulford was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque in a corresponding move.
“It happened in pregame work a couple days ago,” manager Warren Schaeffer said of Beck, who had to be scratched from the lineup Saturday night against the Diamondbacks. “He was going after some fly balls out there pretty hard and just felt it on one step. I don’t think it’s that bad.”
Expected to be a daily lineup presence, the right-handed-hitting Beck, 25, has ended up in a platoon role. Part of the issue is Beck has a .316/.341/.526 slash line against left-handed pitchers, but a .068/.128/.114 slash line against right-handers. Add to it the fact that left-handed-hitting outfielders Mickey Moniak, Troy Johnston and Jake McCarthy are hitting well, and lefty-hitting TJ Rumfield is performing well enough to be used as the designated hitter when he’s not playing first base.
“I see a guy that’s taking solid at-bats against left-handed pitching, struggling against right-handed pitching,” Schaeffer said. “Honestly, it’s kind of a Catch-22, because he’s not getting a ton of at-bats against right-handed pitching -- to be fair, because of how our roster is constructed this year.
“Jordan just hasn’t gotten the opportunities he wants so far, but he’s still a really good baseball player in my opinion -- not a platoon player over the long course of the future. It’s just where it’s at right now. Things could always change.”
A first-round pick (38th overall) out of the University of Tennessee in 2022, Beck became a first-time lineup regular last year and batted .258 with 16 homers and 53 RBIs in 145 games.