Yelich lands on DL with ab strain

Marlins top prospect Christian Yelich is expected to miss about two weeks with a small abdominal wall strain.

Yelich, who also missed the first few weeks of the season with plantar fasciitis, suffered the injury while diving for a ball in the outfield on June 2. He was removed from Monday's game with lower abdominal discomfort after going 0-for-3 at the plate and will officially go on the Double-A Jacksonville Suns' 7-Day DL on June 6.

"He thought it was a little dull pain. But as he was playing the game, he was feeling it a little bit more," Jacksonville manager Andy Barkett said in a radio interview. "So as a precautionary measure, we took him out to get him checked out, see how he's feeling."

Yelich, named the Southern League's Player of the Week on for the week of May 6-12, is batting .262 with six homers, 28 RBIs and a .342 on-base percentage at Double-A Jacksonville. Although he has struggled of late -- he's 6-for-35 with one run in his last 10 games -- his name had been mentioned as a candidate for promotion to Miami this summer, possibly as early as next week.

Christian Yelich suffered an ab strain when he dove for a ball on June 2. (Cliff Welch/MiLB.com)

"His day is coming. When it's going to be, I'm not sure," Marlins manager Mike Redmond told MLB Network Radio last week. "He had a great spring and he's a great player, special player. He's got a chance to be a great player, part of the youth movement, and he'll be here at some point."

Yelich got a late start and did not debut until April 19 in a rehab appearance for Class A Advanced Jupiter. At Jacksonville, he's hit .313 against right-handers but only .154 against lefties. He played in every inning of every game since joining the Suns, until he left Monday's game in the seventh.

Last season he became the first player in Marlins history to be named Minor League Player of the Year twice (he also won in 2011) while leading the Florida State League in slugging percentage and ranking second in batting and on-base percentage.