Royals’ Omar Infante will have MRI on his right elbow

Royals second baseman Omar Infante, who was to serve as designated hitter in Friday’s exhibition game against Cleveland, was scratched because of continuing pain with his right elbow and was to undergo an MRI late in the afternoon.

Infante has been dealing with an elbow irritation since the start of spring training.

“It’s not a ligament,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That leads you to believe, OK, is it a spur in the back of his elbow that’s inflamed stuff? Is an injection warranted to calm it down? Did a spur break off? We don’t know. We’ll see with the MRI exactly what is causing his pain.”

Asked how he felt on Friday morning, Infante said, “Not too good. It’s sore when I throw. When I hit, I don’t feel pain.”

That was the reason the Royals were to use him as DH on Friday but decided in favor of getting the MRI.

Infante, 33, battled injuries throughout his first season in Kansas City last year, including shoulder, elbow and a lower-back injury which resulted in a 15-day stay on the disabled list last May.

Still, he appeared in 135 regular-season games, but hit .255 with a career-best 66 RBIs and played in all 15 postseason games, hitting .255 with a home run and six RBIs.

Infante didn’t feel any pain in his elbow until he reported to spring training.

“Our trainers to a great job of monitoring our players during the off season,” Yost said, “and Omar came in a number of times and was in great shape. Everything felt good.

“Everybody has dings and nicks. Everybody’s elbow in that locker room … 50, 60, maybe 70 percent of them have spurring back there … little calcium spurs. At times, those little calcium spurs will inflame your elbow, and sometimes they chip off and cause inflammation and float.”

Infante said he has not reached the point of frustration.

“No,” he said. “I think I’ll be OK.”

Christian Colon started the first two exhibition games at second base, and veteran pickup Ryan Roberts started on Friday against Cleveland. Roberts drilled an RBI double to center in his first at-bat.

This story was originally published March 6, 2015 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Royals’ Omar Infante will have MRI on his right elbow."