Slade Heathcott placed on DL with quad strain, Ramon Flores called up

Well this stinks. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com is reporting that Slade Heathcott has been diagnosed with a grade 2 quad strain and has been placed on the 15-day DL. Joe Girardi, when asked about how long Heathcott will be out, responded that the rookie will be out "longer than fifteen days." Ramon Flores was scratched just before game time from the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre lineup and will join the big club in Oakland on Saturday.

Heathcott impressed in his very short stint in the majors. In 18 plate appearances he hit .353/.353/.588 while launching his first big league homer off Royals closer Greg Holland and playing excellent outfield defense. Heathcott has battled injuries on his way to the Show and it was truly special to finally see him in the Bronx. Slade was actually non-tendered over the winter and signed back on a smaller contract to lower the monetary risk undertaken by the Yankees. He was the only Yankees first round pick to debut in the Major Leagues with the Bombers since Andrew Brackman.

Taking his place on the roster will be Ramon Flores. Flores has hit .294/.389/.425 with the RailRiders in Triple-A and has hit four homers this year. Flores will play a corner outfield position while Brett Gardner and/or Chris Young covers center field. He's only 23 years old, so Flores has a chance to make an impression with his time in the bigs. It's just unfortunate that he's not debuting under more positive circumstances.

We here at Pinstripe Alley wish Slade good luck in getting healthy, and to Ramon in his debut.

Nicolas Stellini is a contributor at Pinstripe Alley, where he writes about the Yankees and covers the Double-A Trenton Thunder. His national coverage can be found at Beyond the Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @StelliniTweets.