The Athletics announced that infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. He will take the active roster spot of fellow infielder Max Muncy, who has been placed on the 10-day IL with left knee chondromalacia. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander J.T. Ginn has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Kuroda-Grauer, 23, suffered a gruesome injury back in July. He fouled a ball off himself and suffered a ruptured testicle that required surgery. Despite the cringe-inducing nature of that sequence, he is back after barely two months.
Prior to that absence, Kuroda-Grauer had an excellent start to his big league career. He put up a huge .417/.435/.583 line in his first 16 games. That production was propped up by an unsustainable .462 batting average on balls in play and wasn’t going to last forever but he’ll get a chance to tally some more big league action before the season is through. He will go into next year with six full seasons of club control and a full slate of options. He can play second base, third base and shortstop, so there are lots of way he could factor into the club’s plans going forward.
As for Ginn, he landed on the 15-day IL on September 5 with an elbow impingement. On September 11, Martín Gallegos of MLB.com relayed that Ginn wasn’t making much progress and wasn’t likely to make it back this season. Today’s transfer confirms that. The A’s had no reason to push Ginn if he wasn’t 100% since they are well out of contention this year.
At this point, there hasn’t been anything to suggest he won’t be ready for the 2027 season, but perhaps the A’s will have further updates in the future. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so Ginn will need to be added back to the 40-man roster at that time.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
