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MOOSIC — Mother’s Day is always special for Ryan McBroom.
And with his mother, Mary Buer, coming to town on Monday, which falls in line with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders’ off day, McBroom is ready to turn Mother’s Day into Mother’s Weekend.
He’ll have something special planned for sure.
“It’s very special,” McBroom said prior to Saturday’s rainout against the Rochester Red Wings. “My mom actually lives in Atlanta and I live in the D.C. area. Even in the offseason I’m not able to see here that much. I love seeing her whenever I can. I think it’s going to be amazing, especially seeing her close to Mother’s Day, and my sister is coming out too. I don’t take those times for granted, that’s for sure. Whenever my mom can come visit, I always give her my full attention. We do something fun. So it’s a good time.”
With the RailRiders’ clubhouse covered in pink bats, batting gloves and cleats this weekend, McBroom’s going to wear as much as possible so he can honor his mother. He’s even considering wearing some pink eye black.
“Before and after every single game, she doesn’t miss a game whether she’s listening to it, watching it, looking at the stats afterwards. Whatever it is, she never misses a text after the game,” McBroom said. “She’s always there to provide support and she’ll let me know when my head’s not on straight and when I’m not playing my best. She’ll let me know, that’s for sure. It’s been great to have her there through this whole thing and this whole roller coaster of professional baseball. She’s been super supportive toward me.”
Sheffield to the DL
When Justus Sheffield was pulled from Friday’s game with a stiff shoulder, he knew he’d likely end up on the disabled list.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday when the RailRiders placed the 21-year-old southpaw on the 7-day DL, giving him time to recover.
“I kind of knew yesterday that I was going to go on the DL, but, honestly, it’s not as bad as it seems because I think the plan is, luckily we have an off day,” Sheffield said. “Really, I’m just getting pushed back and essentially not missing a start — not getting pushed back. That’s probably the best outcome that could be. I’m going to use these couple days of rest and get back at it.”
The “crazy” thing to Sheffield is the fact that his shoulder felt “fine” on Saturday.
Both him and the RailRiders don’t expect to miss much more than the minimum seven days. In fact, RailRiders manager Bobby Mitchell said on Saturday as long as “things go as planned when they see this doctor” the left-hander plans to start five days after Monday’s off day, which would make his next start May 19 at the Buffalo Bisons.
“It’s weird. I did my strength tests and everything like that and I couldn’t feel anything besides normal soreness a day after pitching. It feels fine,” Sheffield said. “I’m looking to see how it is the next couple days. I’m pretty sure it’ll be fine though.”
After discussing Sheffield’s status with New York after the game, the organization decided the best move was to put the RailRiders starting pitcher on the disabled list.
Even with his new roster status, the decision was still considered precautionary.
“I figured yesterday we were going to probably end up doing it depending on what the organization wanted, but with any pitcher like that, you don’t want anything long term,” Mitchell said. “Just got to be careful, especially with tightness in the shoulder area and his velocity had dropped some in the game. Want to make sure he misses one start instead of a lot.”
The RailRiders added infielder Rey Navarro to their roster, replacing the injured Sheffield.
Navarro, who joins Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after signing on minor league contract with the Yankees on Friday, played in seven games with Triple-A Tacoma this season, batting .148. He played all seven games at second base, but was scheduled to play shortstop on Saturday.
After being released from Tacoma on April 27, Navarro was playing with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of the Professional Baseball.
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about him,” Mitchell said of Navarro. “He’ll be a good addition to shortstop for us when (Tyler) Wade has to move to other positions for us. It’ll open up that option, which is exactly what he needs to do. Wade needs to move around and play different positions. He’ll be a great addition, and I told him, to our team. He’ll fit right in.”
Frazier batting leadoff, again
Clint Frazier was set to bat leadoff again on Saturday before the game was rained out.
It’s a position in the batting order Frazier could come more accustom to moving forward. Saturday would have been the third time he was at the top of the batting order this season.
“Right now he’s really confident and swinging the bat well, ” Mitchell said of Frazier. “I think also it, we talked about it — and it adds with (Tyler) Wade struggling a little bit — it kind of adds a little more opportunities to bunt for base hits and stuff like that instead of being leadoff all the time. I think that’s part of the reason, too. It may not be continuous, but I think right now, for both of them, it’s a good position for them.”
