NewsWieters pulled from Triple-A game
Catcher experiences tightness in right hamstring
By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com
04/17/09 9:02 PM ET
BOSTON -- It's a minor injury to a Minor League player. And still it's major news.Matt Wieters, Baltimore's top prospect, left Triple-A Norfolk's game against the Gwinnett Braves with cramping in his right hamstring on Friday. He singled in the first inning and pulled up lame, and the Tides pulled him for precautionary reasons. Wieters, who is batting .292, will be re-evaluated on Saturday.
Wieters, the fifth overall pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, started his season 1-for-8 before heating up. The switch-hitting catcher had hits in each of his last four games before Friday night.
Wieters was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year in 2008 after hitting 27 home runs between two levels.
The Orioles wanted Wieters -- who has fewer than 500 professional at-bats -- to get a little experience at Norfolk before they promoted him to the Major Leagues. They expect to see him sometime before the All-Star break, but this injury -- if it turns out to serious -- could delay his promotion indefinitely.
Spencer Fordin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
