After a sitting the past few games against the Royals with a hamstring injury, John Olerud has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. In his spot comes Roberto Petagine, who has been absolutely mashing the ball down in Pawtucket.
Petagine was injured for the beginning of the season, but ever since he was taken off the disabled list he's been hitting like Barry Bonds in a slow-pitch softball game. He is batting .327, with a .452 on-base percentage, with 20 home runs in his time in Pawtucket which is 266 at-bats. There have been a lot of people pushing for his promotion (most notably Marc Normandin from Beyond the Box Score) and now it's his time to shine in the big leagues.
He's been in the big leagues before, though, and he struggled. He has spent time with Houston, San Diego, New York (NL) and Cincinnati. Like I said, he struggled. His career batting average in the big leagues is .225 with 10 home runs in 307 at-bats.
There is a lot of potential here with Petagine. He can mash the ball, we know that, but he's going to have to show it against major league pitching. I good time to start is today against the Kansas City Royals, the worst team in the league. Will he start the game? Let's hope so. He also has a good glove, so maybe we'll see him get a lot of action at first, while Kevin Millar plays right or left field, depending if Manny Ramirez needs to sit a day after last night's collision.
It's sad to see Olerud, who's been hitting so well, go on the disabled list, but it's also nice to see Petagine get his chance when he deserves it.