Aaron Hicks sets strikeout record for first 10 career games - MLB

Rather than sending Aaron Hicks to Triple-A for a month to get some additional seasoning and delay his eventual free agency for an extra year the Twins decided he was ready to make the jump from Double-A to the majors as their Opening Day center fielder.

It has gone about as poorly as possible, with Hicks starting his career 2-for-43 (.047) with 20 strikeouts. Not only do the 20 strikeouts leading baseball, Hicks has tied the all-time record for strikeouts by a rookie through his first 10 career games:

Aaron Hicks       2013     20
Brett Jackson     2012     20
Matt Williams     1987     19
Russell Branyan   1999     18
Ray Durham        1995     18

Not exactly the type of record you want to be setting, although it’s worth noting that Matt Williams and Ray Durham went on to have very good careers and Russell Branyan had a lot of productive seasons. And just short of cracking the above top-five is Giancarlo Stanton, who had 17 strikeouts through 10 career games as a rookie in 2010 and … well, he’s awesome.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”