Brantley Undergoes Biceps Tenodesis, Recovery Will Take 4 Months

as i previously posted in my most recent blog, Michael Brantley was scheduled to have season-ending shoulder surgery yesterday on August 15 in Dallas, Texas in the hopes of relieving his chronic right biceps tenditinis. today, on August 16, some information about the surgery was announced. according to the Indians Press Release, Michael underwent a 45-minute procedure called biceps tenodesis to address the biceps tendinitis in his right shoulder. Dr. Keith Meister and Dr. Mark Shickendantz both performed the operation. while doing so, they confirmed that Michael's labrum repair was intact and the remainder of the shoulder joint looked good. he is expected to make a full recovery in four months.

photo cropped off indians.com

via Paul Hoynes' article on cleveland.com, the Indians believe Michael should have

Brantley To Have Season-Ending Right Shoulder Surgery

i wish i had better news to report. let me just cut to the chase and give it to you like i'm ripping off a band-aid--quick and painful. Michael Brantley's rehab attempts are officially over now because today, on August 13, Terry Francona announced that he will need to have another surgery on his right shoulder, which will ultimately end his 2016 season. it's scheduled for Monday, August 15 at TMI Sports Medicine in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Keith Meister and Dr. Mark Shickendantz will both perform the operation of which the specifics were not yet released.

8/13/16, photo courtesy of Chuck Crow via The Plain Dealer

Brantley's First Half 2016 #s (w/ DL Updates)

hello all! we have now officially reached the All Star break! even though teams have played more than 81 games--the true halfway mark in baseball--this is considered to be the "first half" of the season. so that means it's time for me to report Michael's first half numbers of 2016.

because Michael has not yet returned from the disabled list, he has not acquired any new statistics since the last blog i posted with his cumulative numbers. however, some sections here have still changed slightly. and you know me, i have to write this anyway to keep it on record for documentation purposes. that said, i understand if you don't want to read everything in this blog, but you should definitely check out the DL Updates section because there are some good ones!


so far in 2016, Michael has 43 plate appearances and 39 at bats in 11 games (89.1 innings). in total, he has 9 hits, 2 extra base hits, 7 singles, 2 doubles, 7 RBI, 1 sac fly, 5 runs, 3 walks, 1 intentional walk, 1 stolen base (3rd), 1 GIDP, 6 strikeouts (3 swinging, 3 looking), 1 first at bat hit, 11 total bases, 14 left on base, 18 putouts, and 1 assist.

1st Half 2016 batting average:

Brantley Transferred to 60-Day DL (w/ DL Updates) (My 200th Blog!)

this morning, on July 3, it was announced in a press release on indians.com that Michael Brantley was transferred from the 15-Day DL to the 60-Day DL in order to make room for Abraham Almonte--who was just reinstated from the restricted list--on the 40-man roster. this was only a paper move and does not change anything per a tweet from Jordan Bastian. Terry Francona also commented, "there's no hidden flags there." Michael's new placement on the disabled list is still retroactive to May 9, and he's eligible for activation on July 9 according to Bastian's indians.com article. however, Michael is still a ways away from returning.

this all originated from the offseason right shoulder surgery Michael had on November 9, 2015 for a torn labrum. he's been doing everything he can to recover, rehab, and make a comeback, but has faced some obstacles along the way. he played two games in spring training with the Tribe before experiencing some shoulder soreness and was shut down for the rest of Cactus League play. he was later placed on the 15-Day DL prior to the start of the season. soon after the season opened, Michael was able to go out on a minor league rehab assignment with both the Columbus Clippers and Akron RubberDucks and was activated from the DL on April 25.

Michael played in a total of 11 games with the Indians before he began

Brantley Placed on 15-Day DL with Right Shoulder Inflammation

i'm afraid i have some disheartening news for Michael Brantley fans. this afternoon, on May 14, the Indians announced that Michael was placed on the 15-Day DL with right shoulder inflammation. the move is retroactive to May 10, meaning he can potentially be activated on May 25. this marks Michael's second time on the disabled list this season, as he opened the year on the 15-Day DL while still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, and it's his third DL stint overall in his MLB career.

screenshot cropped from indians.com

i am stunned about this considering just yesterday Terry Francona said that any talk of putting Michael on the DL was

Brantley's April 2016 #s

Michael Brantley spent most of the month of April on the DL, as he was still trying to make his way back from offseason right shoulder surgery. during his rehab, he played seven games with minor league teams in advance of finally being activated by the Indians on April 25. despite him not playing very much with the big league team this month, the blog must go on. this one will be shorter than usual though, something i think everyone will appreciate after the previous two LONG blogs i posted about his rehabilitation. (if you have not read those yet, they can be found here and here.)

before i get into Michael's April, let me provide a quick rundown of how i do these monthly blogs, just in case you're a new or recent reader of my blogspot. last year, i began sectioning out specific topics of discussion so they'd be easier to see and allow you the option to skim through certain parts or skip to the sections you were most interested in. i'm going to continue doing that, and the divisions generally include:

--a monthly overview
--areas of concern
--lineup changes
--health ailments affecting Michael's performance
--team batting title competition
--HR:RBI ratio, LOB, K Rate, and Outs
--streaks and situational statistics (ie. hit in/reached in, RHP/LHP, home/away, RISP, runners on, bases loaded, bases empty, multi-hit games, multi-RBI games, go-ahead hits/RBI)

Vote Brantley For MLB's 2016 All Star Game!

hey there baseball and Michael Brantley fans! it's the last week of April and you know what that means--it's time to start voting for your 2016 MLB All Star players!

photo courtesy of @AllStarGame on twitter

there's a very high probability that Michael will be activated off the DL tomorrow, on April 25. and if not tomorrow, then certainly later this week. just because Michael spent all of April thus far on the disabled list, that's no reason not to vote him to the Midsummer Classic. sadly, he was not selected to the American League All Star team last year, but he did make the 2014 team as a reserve. let's get him back to the ASG for his second appearance in three years, shall we?

in my humble opinion, Michael should not be penalized because

Brantley To Open Indians' 2016 Season On 15-Day DL

he tried to avoid it, but unfortunately it could not be avoided. today, on April 3, the Cleveland Indians announced that Michael Brantley was placed on the 15-day DL as he continues to recover from offseason right shoulder surgery. we've all known this was going to happen for some time, but the roster transaction did not become official until now. the good news about his DL stint is it's retroactive to March 25. that means, if Michael was ready, he could be activated as early as April 9 and would only miss the first week--just 4 games--of April, as opposed to missing the first two weeks or more of the season. while that once seemed like a real possibility, it now doesn't appear as though he will be back that fast.

note: i am presently in the middle of writing up Michael's daily health updates and the results of his spring/rehab games, but this is something that i felt needed to be posted about separately.

originally expected to miss April and part of May after his shoulder surgery on November 9, Michael attacked his rehab and did everything he could to be back on the field as soon as possible. he spent most of his offseason rehabbing in Cleveland, Ohio, then went out to Goodyear on February 1 to carry on with his rehab there. he started swinging a bat well before the initial projection date of March 9, beginning with hitting off a tee, then some soft toss, then progressing to indoor batting practice in the cage, and lastly graduating to

Brantley's March 2016 Hitting Advancements (Soft Toss to ON THE FIELD BP!)

so um, i don't know if you've heard...but i figure i should probably blog about the fact that...Michael Brantley is now playing in spring games! i repeat, Michael Brantley is now playing in spring games! how awesome is that?! bravo to a man who absolutely killed it in his rehab and crushed his original timetable.

when news of Michael's shoulder surgery broke back on November 9, 2015, i questioned whether or not he would be able to play in any games this spring, and if so, would he even get to play with the Indians in the big league camp? while the latter remains to be seen, hearing this good news is still very exciting and i'm extremely grateful for Michael's swift progress.

note: Terry Francona spoke with the media yesterday and officially announced that Michael would make his game debut on March 17 in a minor league game, but i wanted to wait and be sure it actually happened before i went ahead and posted this blog.

despite the month of March not being over, i didn't like the idea of combining Michael's hitting program updates with his spring training/rehab game info. therefore, this post will simply consist of Michael's continued hitting advancements in March up until today, his "game activation" point. then,

Brantley's February 2016 Shoulder Updates & Hitting Program News

before i get into this i want to address something. if Michael is not going to play the spring training games that are on the Indians schedule like he usually would due to his continued rehab, then i unfortunately am not going to be able to write a proper Brantley's Spring Training #s blog this year. what i'll probably have to do instead is keep track of all his rehab games, from March until he's activated with the Indians in April or May, and then write a blog recapping his overall rehab.

originally they said when Michael does ultimately begin to play in games again, it would be with the minor league camp in spring, AND he would play with them before he's even ready to bat. don't know how you can play in a game without being in the lineup, but i guess they will figure that out. and whenever he does start hitting in games again, if he remains with the minor leaguers, i don't know that i'll be able to find much detailed information online about each game that he appears in (ie. pitch count, inning, outs, results of all plate appearances). odds of me getting his situational numbers (RHP vs LHP, RISP, runners on, bases loaded, etc) are low as well. it also seems unlikely that i'll even be able to do an accurate calculation of his total numbers. so i'm asking my readers to please bear with me as i am gonna be forced to do things differently with the documentation of Michael's rehab/spring game #s.

as always, the best way to see any news and updates that i find on a daily basis would be to follow me on twitter, @clevelandgirl23.


in case you're not fully up-to-date with Michael's progression thus far,

Brantley News & Shoulder Rehab Progression Through January 2016

because Michael's been appearing at several public events in Cleveland over the last few days, i have a lot more up-to-date information on his recovery from right shoulder surgery. i've been keeping track of his progress all along, so if you've missed anything to this point, be sure to check out my Brantley News From the 2015 Winter Meetings (December 6-10) blog and the second half of my Brantley Confirmed For Tribe Fest 2016 blog, which contains health updates from December 17-21, for the final updates from 2015.

now let's get into the most current news, day by day, as it was unveiled.

January 25: Chris Antonetti, Indians President of Baseball Operations, did an interview with Christopher Russo on MLB Network's High Heat. Antonetti said that Michael was in the clubhouse earlier and that he's been in Cleveland rehabbing for most of the month of January. "he's on track and progressing really well. he's feeling good and pushing the trainers to push forward his timetable."

January 27: at night, Michael was spotted at