By Field Level Media
Sep 08 (Field Level Media) – The Tampa Bay Rays placed shortstop Taylor Walls on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday due to a right hip flexor strain.
The move was retroactive to Sunday. In corresponding moves, the Rays recalled veteran infielder Nick Madrigal from Triple-A Durham and designated right- handed reliever Hunter Bigge for assignment to make room for Madrigal on the 40-man roster.
Walls last played on Saturday, going 0-for-2 with a walk and his major league- leading 12th sacrifice bunt of the season in a 6-3 victory in 10 innings over the host Texas Rangers.
The 30-year-old is batting .218 with two home runs and 33 RBIs in 117 games, but he has only nine errors in 441 chances for a .980 fielding percentage in 985 2/3 innings. He leads the major leagues with 21 total fielding runs above average. He also has 21 steals in 24 attempts.
Walls is a career .199 hitter with 24 home runs and 169 RBIs in 597 regular- season games since 2021.
Madrigal, 29, signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay on June 25. He played in 15 games for the Los Angeles Angels this season, batting .273 (12-for-44) with two RBIs.
Madrigal is a career .274 hitter with four homers and 79 RBIs in 300 regular- season games for the Chicago White Sox (2020-21), Chicago Cubs (2022-24) and Angels (2026).
He was batting .318 with two homers and 16 RBIs in 47 games for Durham.
Bigge, 28, was 1-1 with a 6.98 ERA, 14 walks and 14 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings over 18 relief appearances for Tampa Bay earlier this season. He was 1-1 with two saves and a 6.14 ERA in 29 1/3 innings over 27 relief appearances with Durham when he was designated for assignment.
Infielder Oliver Dunn, who was designated for assignment on Saturday, cleared outright waivers on Tuesday and accepted his assignment to Durham.
Dunn, who turned 29 last Wednesday, was 1-for-11 (.091) in nine games this season for Tampa Bay. The Rays acquired Dunn from the White Sox on May 19 for left-hander Joe Rock, who was waived by Chicago and selected by the Athletics on Aug. 16.
(–Field Level Media)
