Ryan Flaherty is getting his third straight start at second base today, even with Omar Quintanilla now in the fold.
Quintanilla came in Saturday’s game as a defensive replacement for Flaherty on Saturday, his first game action since July 8 with the New York Mets. Quintanilla hasn’t started a game since June 23.
So Showalter said he wanted to ease Quintanilla back. And he’ll probably start in the infield on Monday – maybe at second, maybe as a fill-in at short to give J.J. Hardy a rest.
But Flaherty’s presence in the lineup also has a lot to do with Flaherty, who has homered in his previous two games. He wants to give the Rule 5 rookie more consistent at-bats whenever possible.
“I talked to him a few days ago about not getting timid, about letting it rip and getting after it. We talked about some of the tendencies [other teams] have shown and they are using on him, just to be aware of it,” Showalter said. “I’m trying to give Q a couple days to kind of get grounded. I plan on playing him [Monday] somewhere. So we will see. But it gives us a lot of versatility having both of those guys. Ryan has had a couple good two or three days.”
