Pickering gets his shot

After smashing 35 home runs in Omaha this season, Calvin Pickering gets his shot today at the big time. With Ken Harvey going on the DL, Pickering will get at least two weeks worth of regular at bats against major league pitching. Surely, he’ll just stay in KC after Harvey comes back since it’ll be September call up time by then.

Some fans have wondered why Pickering hasn’t been called up until now. We just didn’t have a roster spot for him. Sweeney hasn’t been on the DL this year, but with back troubles, he is our primary DH and there’s no way we are taking him out of the lineup when he is healthy enough to swing a bat. Harvey is having a good year at the plate and is an average or slightly below average fielder. Stairs can play first and has become our emergency first baseman, much like Raul Ibanez was in recent seasons. So, it was difficult to justify a roster spot for another first baseman, no matter how well he was hitting in AAA.

Then Stairs went down. Now Harvey. And Mike Sweeney is still nursing a sore back. Stairs is coming back today, but with Harvey down, Stairs will be back in the outfield with Pickering getting the nod in the field at first most nights. I’m anxious to see how Pickering does.