Brantley's May - August 2016 DL Stint Updates & Rehab Game Details

originally, i had a very happy introduction planned for this blog that was fixated on Michael Brantley's activation from the disabled list. unfortunately, Michael will not be returning to game action this year because he just had season-ending surgery. thus, my lede had to change.

Michael has had a rough time this year, to say the least. he began the regular season late because he was on the 15-Day DL, still recovering and rehabbing from his offseason right shoulder surgery for a torn labrum. he played seven games on a minor league rehab assignment before being activated on April 25. between his activation date and May 9, he appeared in 11 total Indians games over 15 days. it came to light on May 10 that he was feeling soreness and his shoulder was not bouncing back like they'd hoped. after a few days off, Michael was re-evaluated on May 13, but we didn't get any news until May 14. that's when it was announced that Michael was placed on the 15-Day DL with right shoulder inflammation and would be visiting with his surgeon, Dr. Craig Morgan, in Wilmington, Delaware on May 17 for a checkup.

that was your little season summation through May 14. next are all the Michael updates from this most recent stay on the DL.

What Is Biceps Tenodesis?

if you recall, after Michael Brantley had his labral tear surgery on November 9, 2015, i did my own research in order to get a better idea of what he'd just endured. so you should have seen this coming lol

what exactly is the biceps tenodesis procedure that Michael had done to his right shoulder on August 15 in Dallas, Texas by Dr. Keith Meister and Dr. Mark Shickendantz? i'm sure most of his fans want to know, none more than i. while Indians' head athletic trainer James Quinlan shared in Jordan Bastian's article on indians.com that it consisted of cutting the biceps tendon and anchoring it to a different part of the shoulder, i wanted more details.

following a quick google search, i found two articles via shoulderdoc.co.uk and rothmaninstitute.com that helped explain the procedure and its purpose further. basically, it involves detaching the long head of the biceps tendon from its superior labrum in the shoulder and reattaching it to the humerus bone just below the shoulder. in doing this, the pressure is relieved from the

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 2016 #s Through July

Michael Brantley has not added to his overall season numbers since May 9, but that very well could [finally!] change in August lol until then, we've got another "#s Through" blog that's vastly similar to the last one i posted a month ago. for your convenience, i have denoted sections that weren't modified in any way with (unchanged) next to them. otherwise, everything else contains new information and was updated accordingly.


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.

2016 batting average through July:

Brantley's July 2016 (w/ Rehab Game Details)

hello all! thanks to everyone who read my Brantley's June 2016 blog and Brantley's 2016 #s Through June blog. i know there wasn't much going on there, so i greatly appreciate the views. i also appreciate my new readers. i get new visitors from different countries almost every month, and i love that! so let me give a special welcome to the people in Lithuania, Mauritius, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia! in addition, i've seen a large spike in views from Russia over the past week and would like to thank those readers as well!

this blog is going to be a lot like the June blog in that many sections are bare or have been omitted because Michael did not play in any July games, at least not in the big leagues. most of what you're about to read is simply DL updates and rehab game performances. boy i can't wait until Michael rejoins the Tribe so things can get back to normal 'round here lol


July Overview

i thought this was going to be a good month for Michael because when i flipped my 2016 Cleveland Indians calendar over to July, i saw it was Michael Brantley month. i took that as a sign he was destined to return, but apparently, destiny had other plans for Dr. Smooth.

the Indians played a total of 24 games in July. Michael played zero. sound familiar? yeah, only this time the Indians went

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's 2016 #s Through June (w/ All Star Voting Updates)

this blog is going to be very similar to the "#s Through May" blog. why is that? because Michael hasn't played a game since May 9!

Michael has never missed an entire month of a season as long as i've been documenting and blogging about his numbers, so i've never faced this conundrum before. while it might seem pointless to you for me to list out all his numbers again, i came to the conclusion that it was necessary because despite him not having any June statistics, most of the sections in this blog did still change slightly and were updated accordingly.


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.

2016 batting average through June:

Brantley's June 2016 (w/ DL Updates)

hey there, Brantley fans! i'm gonna start this blog with another thank you to everyone who read my Brantley's May 2016 #s blog and Brantley's 2016 #s Through May blog. and once again, i gained some new viewers in the last month, this time from Kenya and Latvia! welcome!

now let me address the abnormality that is this month's blog. it's going to be very different from all my previous monthlies because Michael did not play any games in June. as a result, the majority of sections you'd expect to find here have been omitted. still, i had plenty to write about. this blog mainly contains Michael's DL updates along with some other information i came across throughout the duration of June. (hence why it's not titled Brantley's June "#s" as per usual.)


June Overview

the Indians played a total of 28 games in June. Michael played zero and the Indians went 22-6 without him. (Michael who? yeah, no kidding. to see the team do THAT well in his absence was quite surprising.) never did i imagine Michael would miss the entire month of June. i truly thought he'd be back by the middle of the month, but that turned out to be not realistic whatsoever.

he started June hitting off a tee and after a week moved on to flip toss. another week passed and Michael had not yet advanced to taking batting practice, though he was building up the intensity and volume of his soft-toss program. shortly after that, it was revealed that Michael had experienced some