Wilson Betemit has been a useful cog in the bottom half of the Baltimore order this year, but the Orioles will have to do without him for the foreseeable future after he was diagnosed with torn cartilage and a bone bruise in his right wrist.
He was placed on the DL retroactive to Aug. 12 and replaced by first baseman Joe Mahoney on the roster. Betemit was hitting .264/.327/.429 with 12 homers and 37 RBI in 329 at-bats this season. As usual, the switch-hitter was doing much better against righties (.306/.363/.510) than lefties (.143/.223/.190).
Fortunately, with Manny Machado up and off to a fantastic start, Betemit looks a little more expendable that he would have a few weeks ago. Machado had already replaced him at third base, with Betemit recently getting his starts at first base and DH. Nate McLouth figures to take a lot of Betemit’s at-bats, with Chris Davis spending more time at DH.
