Cleveland Indians: Jason Kipnis set to return this Sunday

The Cleveland Indians have been without Jason Kipnis since the All-Star break, but he is set to return to the team this weekend.

The Cleveland Indians lost Jason Kipnis to a hamstring injury on July 8, but the veteran has been in minor league action this week to test out the hamstring.

Things have gone well and Kipnis even hit a home run with the Akron RubberDucks, signaling his readiness to return to the big league club.

And according to William Kosileski of MLB.com, Kipnis should be back Sunday.

So given he gets through Friday’s rehab game without any issues, Kipnis should be back for the duration of the season.

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His return means either Giovanny Urshela or Erik Gonzalez will have to go, and Urshela’s struggles on offense may mean he is heading back to Columbus. His defense is amazing, but his .182 average in 16 games is the problem.

Gonzalez also has some experience in the utility role, and is hitting .263. Ideally, the team could have acquired a veteran infielder to have on the bench, and that still remains a possibility until the end of the month.

The team could always go with Michael Martinez again, but that may cause too many fans to have heart attacks before October can even begin.

But a healthy Jason Kipnis gives the Indians some stability in the infield and also in the starting lineup. All Terry Francona needs is Lonnie Chisenhall to get healthy and he can set a concrete lineup without too many changes on a day-to-day basis.

Indians fans are used to key players missing time with injuries, and the team has proved to be resilient with a “next man up” attitude. Even with that being true, it will be nice to see Kipnis back in the lineup as early as Sunday.

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Now he just needs to improve his slash line of .232/.292/.402 and become an effective part of the lineup as he has been in the past.