Diamondbacks place Steven Souza on DL, recall Socrates Brito

Steven Souza’s injury-plagued season with the Diamondbacks continues. He missed the first 30 games of the season with a pectoral strain suffered during a spring training game. Souza made his 2018 debut on May 3, without going through a rehab assignment, but struggled out of the gate, his average never reaching the Uecker Line. He appeared to re-aggravate the same issue during the series against the Mets in New York on May 18, but the team initially hoped Steven would be able to avoid another DL stint - he pinch-hit during last night’s defeat in Milwaukee. However, after MRI results were reviewed today, the team has decided the best bet is to put him back on the DL.

The above came from last night’s Gameday Thread. It made some sense at the time, because Brito had apparently become the forgotten man among our outfielders. But, approximately 16 hours later... :) Socrates Brito sees his first day in MLB with the Diamondbacks since the end of the 2016 season - he was entirely overlooked last year, despite the team’s need to replace David Peralta and A.J. Pollock at various times. The 25-year-old Brito has hit .323 in 42 games with the Aces in 2018, though his overall OPS of .801 is no great shakes. He does have the ability to play all three outfield positions, having played 25 games for Reno in center field (25 starts), 10 in left (6) and 9 in right (8).

Admittedly, Souza’s production of .163/.234/.186 will not be hard to replace. It does mean the team is skewed quite severely towards left-handed bats, with Jarrod Dyson and David Peralta also left-handed bats, as is Daniel Descalso. If we want a right-hander, Chris Owings is now the only player active on our roster to have played the outfield this season.