Ahead of Friday’s series opener against the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers have reinstated Chase Utley from the 10-day disabled list. Utley has not played since May 29 due to a left thumb sprain.
To make room for Utley on the active roster, the Dodgers optioned catcher/infielder Kyle Farmer back to Triple-A Oklahoma City at the conclusion of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.
In 126 plate appearances this season (45 games), Utley is hitting .216/.302/.324 with seven doubles, one triple, one home run and 14 RBI. While his power numbers are down, he has improved his walk rate from the previous season and is 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
After a terrific month of April in which he hit .283/.389/.433 across 72 plate appearances, he followed suit in the month of May collecting only seven hits in 51 at-bats, which was capped off with a 1-for-26 slump dating back to May 12.
Perhaps the three-week layoff should rejuvenate him though, as should playing the Mets, who Utley has historically loved playing against. In 190 career games against New York, Utley is hitting .281/.374/.527 with 39 home runs.
Mets fans will surely bring out the boo birds for Utley, which stems from his days back with the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as the 2015 National League Division Series when he was with the Dodgers and slid into second base hard, breaking then Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada’s leg in the process.
In his next trip to Citi Field after that series, Utley hit two home runs including a grand slam after being thrown at by Noah Syndergaard. He also went deep in the team’s series at Citi Field in 2017. All of that success prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to joke about giving Mets fans what they want by activating Utley for this series.
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