Joshua

Kuroda-Grauer

It doesn’t sound like anything overly serious, but with just three games to go over the weekend it’s also no guarantee that the 27-year-old sees the field again this season. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer will start in his place at shortstop and bat eighth against Peter Lambert and the Astros on Thursday evening in West Sacramento.

Kuroda-Grauer will get a couple additional games under his belt in the majors to close out the season with Max Muncy heading to the shelf with a knee injury. The 23-year-old rookie is back after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured testicle back in late July. He was hitting .417 (25-for-60) through 16 games prior to the unfortunate injury.

Kuroda-Grauer is unlikely to return to the majors before the regular season concludes, but he’s expected to have a normal offseason and be a full-go at the outset of spring training. That’s the most positive outcome after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured testicle back in late July. He should factor into the Athletics’ infield mix next spring.

Kuroda-Grauer won’t make it back before the regular season concludes, but he’s expected to have a normal offseason and be ready for the start of next spring. That wasn’t a sure thing after he underwent surgery to address a ruptured testicle back in late July.

Kuroda-Grauer will be eligible to rejoin the A’s on Sept. 19, but it sounds like he’s done for the year with the ruptured testicle he suffered in July. At least he was impressive enough in hitting .416 in 16 games before getting hurt to stand a decent chance of factoring into next year’s infield on Opening Day.

Kuroda-Grauer is facing a lengthy absence after undergoing emergency surgery to repair a ruptured testicle at a Phoenix-area hospital on Monday. The 23-year-old rookie infielder suffered the unfortunate injury when he fouled a ball directly off his groin a couple innings after launching his first career home run on Monday against the Diamondbacks. There should be a definitive return timetable at some point in the near future, but he’s probably going to be out a while. It’s a big loss for the Athletics since he was hitting .417 (25-for-60) through 16 games since being called up from Triple-A.

Never before has a player hit his first major league homer and been so miserable after the game. Kuroda-Grauer was hurt when he fouled a pitch off himself in the fifth, though he did stay in for another inning. Alika Williams will probably be needed to fill in for him Tuesday.

Kuroda-Grauer was replaced by Donovan Walton at third base after fouling a ball off an unfortunate location earlier in the contest. He was 2-for-3 with his first career home run prior to leaving the game in the sixth inning. It seems like a precautionary exit, but fantasy managers should check back in on his status leading into Tuesday’s showdown.

Kuroda-Grauer has not looked overmatched since arriving in the big leagues last month, hitting .404 (23-for-57) with three RBI across 15 games. The 23-year-old rookie has begun batting towards the middle of the Athletics’ injury-depleted lineup recently and is worthy of a speculative pickup as a batting average source in most fantasy leagues.

The first two hits were off Tarik Skubal. Most of the rest of the Athletics’ lineup didn’t fare as well, so Kuroda-Grauer went without a run scored or an RBI tonight. He’s off to a 12-for-26 start to his big-league career, and he’s struck out just twice to date. With his contact ability, he could remain quite strong in terms of batting average, though he probably won’t be as helpful elsewhere.