Aaron Hicks hasn’t played much since giving up switch-hitting to become exclusively a right-handed hitter two weeks ago and now he’s headed to the disabled list with a shoulder injury.
Hicks, who began each of the past two seasons as the Opening Day center fielder only to lose the job by hitting below .200, injured his shoulder last week and the Twins insisted it was minor initially. He appeared as a late-inning sub Monday, so the disabled list stint can only be backdated that far.
Of course, if healthy it’s possible that Hicks would have simply been optioned back to Triple-A because the Twins are more committed to Danny Santana as their primary center fielder and now have Sam Fuld returning from a concussion to back him up.
Hicks was a consensus top-100 prospect heading into 2013 and the Twins thought he was so ready for the majors that they had him skip Triple-A at age 23, but he’s hit just .194 with 126 strikeouts through 129 games.
