Indians hoping rookie Cord Phelps will ignite offense

By Dennis Manoloff

Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND

Newest Indian Cord Phelps will be part of a platoon at second base with struggling veteran Orlando Cabrera — at least for the time being.

Phelps, a switch-hitter, was promoted from Class AAA Columbus on Tuesday night and officially joined the Tribe on Wednesday.

In his major-league debut, he went 0-for-4 as the second baseman and No. 7 hitter in the Tribe’s 3-2 loss to the Twins in 10 innings.

Manager Manny Acta is hoping Phelps will provide a spark for an offense that has gone stale the past several weeks despite the hot bats of Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera. Phelps also can play third and short, but he was drafted as a second baseman in the third round out of Stanford in 2008.

“The kid’s going to get an opportunity to play, and we’re going to have to see if he’ll take advantage of it,” Acta said. “For now, he’s going to play second base, and we’re going to give him the opportunity to play the majority of times against right-handed pitching.

“Orlando’s been there, done that. You can’t rule out Orlando coming back and playing every day. But this kid deserved a shot based on the way he’s played the last two years at Columbus.”

Phelps, 24, was hitting .299 with seven homers and 40 RBIs in 55 games for the Clippers. Last season, he hit .317 in 66 games in Columbus after being promoted from Class AA Akron.

Cabrera, signed as a free agent in February, hit .283 in April. But he managed just .230 in May and is .143 (3-for-21) in June. Cabrera is hitting .246 overall, 228 against righties. He has 1,999 career hits.

“Orlando understands what’s going on,” Acta said. “He took [the news] well, as well as he could. He was very professional. Obviously, he’s disappointed, because that’s human nature. He’s a competitor, he knows how important he is to our ball club.

“Nobody’s saying he’s not going to be an everyday player again. This is not a done deal. Orlando’s still going to get playing time against left-handers and some right-handed pitchers, too.”

Phelps grounded to second, struck out swinging, grounded to second and flied to left. Twins second baseman Matt Tolbert made quality plays against him.

“You’ve got to earn it,” Phelps said of chasing his first major-league hit. “I was a little nervous at the start, but that’s to be expected. Overall, I felt pretty good. It was exciting.”

Phelps was in a 5-for-27 slide at the time of the promotion.

“It’s one of those things that happens with the ups and downs of baseball,” he said.