DENVER _ When Phil Gosselin arrived earlier this week at Citizens Bank Park, he was joining his sixth team in seven years. Gosselin has made a career of being a utility player, moving from franchise to franchise with the willingness to cover any position that is needed.
Gosselin has played right field, left field, first base, second base, third base, and even served as a designated hitter. But everyday shortstop in the major leagues? That's a new one. And that is what the Phillies will need from him for at least the next week after they placed starting shortstop Jean Segura and backup shortstop Scott Kingery on the injured list Saturday afternoon with hamstring injuries.
The Phillies also placed Victor Arano on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, which Gabe Kapler said stemmed from a massage Arano received last week in Miami.
Kingery had an MRI Saturday afternoon after he strained his right hamstring on Friday night while running to first base. His injury forced the Phillies to be cautious with Segura, who could have returned Sunday from his left hamstring injury but the team did not want to rush him back because they had already lost Kingery.
So they will turn to Gosselin for at least the next seven days. Gosselin singled twice Friday night when he replaced Kingery to play shortstop for just the 12th time in a major league game.
"It's exciting," Gosselin said. "I think all of us in here, guys that don't play every day, want to play every day, we all want to get the chance, no matter if it's catcher, right field. I'll put in some work with infield coach Bobby Dickerson, keep working at it, and look to make all the routine plays out there so the pitchers have confidence in me."
If Segura returns Sunday, the Phillies had planned to use Kingery in center field as early as Monday in New York. He has 13 hits in his last 28 at-bats as his injury seemed to come just as he was starting to feel comfortable at the plate.
"I watch Scott Kingery play like I'm watching a family member," Kapler said. "I feel that invested in watching him play and caring about his well being. It was an enormous blow to see him having the success that we all knew he could have and to know that was going to be interrupted. He's going to be back on the field but it was that his progress, his flow, his confidence, and his health were interrupted in that moment and that was upsetting. I'm still upset about it."
Kingery and Segura join Odubel Herrera as three Phillies to be placed on the injured list in three days with hamstring injuries.
"Our practices this year are similar to what our practices were last year and we didn't have these kind of hamstring injuries," Kapler said. "We're checking things like hydration, workload, pregame warmup, things like that. We feel like we've done our due diligence and feel good about our practices right now. But that doesn't mean we don't take it very seriously and we will continue to dig in to feel how to be better at preventing injuries."
