Howie Kendrick hadn’t played since Saturday in Atlanta, missing Sunday’s series finale with the Braves and both games with the Tampa Bay Rays before the Washington Nationals put the 36-year-old, 15-year veteran on the 10-Day IL this afternoon, (retroactive to 9/6), with a left hamstring strain.
Kendrick has been dealing with hamstring issues since he missed time in mid-August.
He missed five games between August 14-22, but returned to the lineup a day after skipper Davey Martinez said the infielder was up to about 75-80% strength.
“We’ve got to make sure we take care of him. We don’t want this to become a bigger issue,” Martinez said, echoing what he’s said about managing the veteran carefully to get as much out of his as they can at this stage in his career for the past few seasons.
Kendrick returned to the lineup up August 22nd, and played 11 games before he went on the IL today, going 10 for 41 (.244/.304/.390) with three doubles, a homer, four walks, and eight Ks in 46 plate appearances, but he hadn’t played in three days before the Nationals decided to put him on the Injured List.
Martinez mentioned Kendrick briefly in last night’s post game Zoom call, explaining that he was trying to find some to hit behind Juan Soto with Kendrick out, though he didn’t offer an explanation for why Kendrick was unavailable.
Overall this year, in his fourth season with the Nationals, Kendrick has a .275/.320/.385 line with four doubles and two home runs.
There was no corresponding move announced this afternoon, but the Nationals will need to add to their roster before the start of their four-game series with the Braves in D.C.
The #Nationals have placed 1B/DH Howie Kendrick on the 10-day Injured List (retroactive to 9/6) with a left hamstring strain.
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) September 9, 2020