Marlins lose Jarrod Saltalamacchia to concussion

Via the official Twitter account of the Miami Marlins …

Jarrod Saltalamacchia placed on 7-day concussion DL. J.T. Realmuto (@JTRealmuto #60) recalled from AA @SunsBaseball.

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 1, 2014

It’s not clear exactly how or when Saltalamacchia suffered the head injury, but the safe guess is that he took a few too many foul tips off his catcher’s mask on Saturday afternoon. The 29-year-old had a great April but was slumping to the tune of a .177/.258/.241 batting line across 89 plate appearances in May. Jeff Mathis and the newly-recalled J.T. Realmuto will serve in a tandem behind the plate while Salty is out.

Saltalamacchia signed a three-year, $21 million free agent contract with Miami over the winter.

Follow @drewsilv

Former Angels outfielder Jabari Blash has signed a one-year deal with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced Friday. Per the Japan Times, the deal is said to be worth around $1.06 million. Blash was released from his contract with the Angels at the end of November.

The 29-year-old outfielder has had a rough go of it in the majors, where he failed to duplicate the promising results he delivered in the minors. While he consistently batted above .250 with 20-30 home runs per season at the Double- and Triple-A level, he petered out in back-to-back gigs with the Padres and Angels and slumped toward a .103/.200/.128 finish across 45 PA for Anaheim in 2018.

The hope, of course, is that the environment in NPB will help him get a better handle on his issues at the plate — in a best case scenario, resulting in a full-scale transformation that could make him more marketable to MLB teams in the future. To that end, Blash expects to be utilized as a cleanup batter in the Eagles’ lineup and will focus on assisting the club as they make a run toward the Japan Series.