With questions and general angst hanging around YS9 center fielder Mauro Saucedo already, this was probably a bad time to catch an injury. And, yet, that’s what’s happened. Saucedo tore a tendon in his hand and will sit out at least two months.
The injury was said to occur during the fourth inning of a game against Long Beach in which Saucedo threw a ball from the outfield and was seen thereafter to be flexing his hand. However, some rumors suggest that the actual incident that caused the injury had happened the night before when three YS9 fans may or may not have accosted Saucedo, berating him for his half-assed routes to balls and all-around laissez-faire attitude about anything other than hitting.
"There isn't any truth to that story," said manager Bill Inkster. "I talked to Mauro and he said it never happened."
Some thought Sediki was likely to play this year, but most assumed the calendar would be set to September before that happened. But the team was already enamored of the young Kenyan’s defensive presence (something that Saucedo most definitely did not have—as one scout put it, “when you look at him out in center field, you see a pretty good left fielder”), and he had a startlingly productive offensive game during spring training, popping five homers and hitting .455. No one expects that kind of thing to continue through an entire season, but the idea is fun for the moment.
“Abde will be heading north with us,” said manager Bill Inkster. “We’ll hit him down in the order and do what we can to make his introduction as stress-free as possible.”
Sediki will join fellow rookie Dong-po Thum in the Nine’s starting lineup, with Thum expected to pay shortstop and hit leadoff. Apparently there will be no stress-reducing for him.
“I am very excited,” Sediki said. “I hope Mauro will be able to recover quickly, but I can’t lie and say I’m not thrilled to play in front of the big crowds.”
