Nick Franklin Set To Replace Corey Hart If Necessary

Seattle Mariners designated hitter Corey Hart was removed from Sunday’s series finale with the Minnesota Twins with a left hamstring strain. He flew back to Seattle Monday and will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.

It appears that Nick Franklin will be the one called up from Triple-A Tacoma to fill in for Hart, though no official word or move has been made.

But Franklin was removed from the lineup prior to Tacoma’s game on Sunday in Sacramento. That tells me that the organization was already making plans to have Franklin fly out to Texas to join the club as early as today.

Franklin’s .376 batting average in Tacoma leads all batters in the Pacific Coast League. He also has seven homers and 26 RBI in 30 games. In his short stint with the Mariners this year (7 games), Franklin was 2-for-18 (.125) with a triple and six strikeouts.

Hart, who signed a 1-year $6M deal with Seattle this past winter, is batting .209 with 5 HR and 17 RBI in 37 games.

It’s unclear at this point if Franklin would primarily be used as a DH or if he would spend time at short and/or in the OF as well. But having Franklin up would give the Mariners the opportunity to use him at short and using either Stefen Romero or Michael Saunders in the DH spot with the other in the OF with James Jones and Dustin Ackley.

More information on this as it breaks.