Kansas City Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi comes off IL but doesn’t get in game
The Kansas City Royals got their starting shortstop back on the active roster Tuesday night.
Shortly before their game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals announced Adalberto Mondesi had been reinstated from the injured list. Right-handed pitcher Ronald Bolaños went on the 10-day IL because of a right flexor strain in a corresponding roster move.
The Royals started Nicky Lopez at shortstop on Tuesday night, but Mondesi was available off the bench. He was on deck as a potential pinch hitter for Lopez when the game ended. The Royals lost 4-3.
“We also had a pretty good idea after how he responded today in the work that he did before the game, how he felt, that he was going to be activated tomorrow,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Once the spot opened up with Bolaños, it made sense to give us an opportunity to bring Mondi for just what happened today — just in case we got down to the very end and we needed his bat more than we needed his legs — and to give him an opportunity to win that game for us.”
Mondesi, 25, hadn’t played since May 31 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He strained his hamstring while charging in and making a great defensive play from his shortstop position in that game. But he didn’t go on the IL until June 6 (retroactive to June 4).
Mondesi has played in just seven games this season. He started the regular season on the IL because of an oblique strain that forced him to miss the Royals’ first 45 games.
He went 9 for 25 (.360) at the plate with four multi-hit games and five extra-base hits when he returned from the oblique injury. He’d homered in two of his last three games before the hamstring injury.
Mondesi traveled with the team on its most recent road trip to California for series against the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics, and he worked out with the team during pre-game drills and took batting practice on the field.
He also took batting practice and did pre-game drills on the field at Kauffman Stadium on Monday and Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 7:31 PM.
