Among the various topics Theo Epstein discussed with Mully & Haugh on 670 The Score Thursday morning was the bruised right thumb Addison Russell suffered earlier this month. Epstein said he believes the injury, which Russell suffered on a slide in Colorado June, may be responsible for the second baseman’s anemic production (my words) of late.
Russell went into that game slashing .262/.319/.462 with a 19.2% strikeout rate, four home runs, and a 102 wRC+ that said he was a league-average hitter over his first 72 plate appearances. In the 28 plate appearances since, however, he’s been nothing short of abysmal.