Marlins put Cooper on IL; O'Brien recalled

MIAMI -- Garrett Cooper’s injury misfortune has once again landed him on the shelf.

The Marlins placed Cooper on the injured list on Saturday with a left hand contusion, retroactive to Wednesday, and recalled first baseman/outfielder Peter O'Brien from Triple-A New Orleans. The club initially hoped Cooper would avoid the IL after receiving word X-rays on his hand came back negative.

Manager Don Mattingly worked with a short bench with Cooper unavailable since Wednesday. But before facing the Braves on Saturday, the decision was made to get O’Brien back from New Orleans and Mattingly penciled him in to start in left field.

“As soon as he's able to swing, you get him out playing again,” Mattingly said of Cooper. “Hopefully, in two or three days, he's good enough to swing, and we send him out on his rehab assignment and let him start playing again. And then, go from there.”

Cooper was struck on his left hand by a pitch by Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer on Tuesday. The incident occurred on the same day Cooper was reinstated from the IL, where he had been nursing a left calf strain sustained in the second game of the season. In four games, Cooper is hitless in eight at-bats.

“We tried to do some dry swings [Thursday], gripping the bat,” Mattingly said. “That wasn't going that well.”

In recent days, Cooper and infielder Neil Walker (left hamstring/knee bone bruise) were not able to play the field. Miami is carrying four bench players, so the Marlins are placing Cooper on the IL since he wasn’t ready.

“I don't even know what to say about it,” Mattingly said. “We've seen little patches of what Coop can do in Spring Training, and it's been mostly Spring Training. He hasn't played here very much over the last year. He's had very few at-bats. It just didn't make any sense not to have a guy.”

O’Brien started on Saturday against the Braves in left field, and Walker started at first base.

O’Brien is getting his second shot with the club. After opening the season at New Orleans, he was called up in early April when Cooper first went on the IL. In nine games, O’Brien posted a .111/.200/.222 line, with one home run. He struck out 14 times in 27 at-bats.

“He's fairly streaky, so hopefully we're catching him on a good streak,” Mattingly said. “We'll get him in there and see what it looks like.”

At Triple-A, O’Brien produced a slash line of .278/.361/.556, with five home runs and 14 RBIs. Making contact has been an issue, though, as he fanned 21 times in 54 at-bats.

“The easiest way of saying it is kind of simplifying things, and just having consistent, quality at-bats,” O’Brien said. “Just making that my main focus.”