Marlins place Garrett Cooper on IL once again

The Miami Marlins have once again placed outfielder Garrett Cooper on the Injured List and have recalled Peter O’Brien to replace him in the lineup.

Garrett Cooper can’t catch a break. The outfielder has spent more time on the Injured List than he has since becoming part of the Marlins organization last offseason. His most recent stint away from the team is because of the hand injury he suffered last week after returning from Jupiter while on a rehab assignment. The team recalled Peter O’Brien from Triple-A New Orleans.

O’Brien accounted for the two runs the Marlins scored in the 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Marlins Park Saturday night.

"Per MLB.com, “The club initially hoped Cooper would avoid the IL after receiving word X-rays on his hand came back negative.”"

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The addition of O’Brien, who started on Saturday night was one of the few highlights of the night for the ball club, who are now 9-23 this season. It is their worst start in the team’s history through the first 32 games of the season.

Cooper, who won the starting right field job in camp, is thought to be a power source in the middle of the order for Miami, but staying healthy is now a concern not only for Cooper but the organization and manager Don Mattingly.

"“As soon as he’s able to swing, you get him out playing again,” Mattingly said of Cooper. “Hopefully, in two or three days, he’s good enough to swing, and we send him out on his rehab assignment and let him start playing again. And then, go from there.”"

News and notes: Marlins reliever Nick Anderson had his worst performance of the season to date. The rookie reliever surrendered a grand slam to Ozzie Albies in the sixth inning of the loss to Atlanta.

Anderson, who has been on the more pleasant surprises for the Marlins this season (besides Caleb Smith) is averaging 18.69 strikeouts per nine innings. He is also getting more time on the mound and could become a more valuable setup man for the team.

"Per Joe Frisaro, “Anderson surrendered five runs in the game-changing sixth inning, which catapulted Atlanta to a lead right-hander Mike Soroka didn’t surrender.”"

Also, the team got a bit of good news when Neil Walker returned to the lineup to play first base on Saturday night. Walker had been out of the batting order while dealing with a hamstring issue. O’Brien was called up to play in the outfield but has experience at first.

Mattingly said when the news came out of O’Brien’s move back to Miami, he liked the platoon of Walker and Martin Prado in the infield.