Back in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse Tuesday afternoon was Willy Adames, but out was Brice Turang.
Adames was activated before the Brewers faced the Baltimore Orioles at American Family Field less than two weeks after suffering a concussion from a foul ball that hit him in the dugout.
“I was missing the boys a lot,” Adames said. “Obviously it was a little scary, scary time, but thank God everything went well. It could be way worse. We got lucky enough to get back sooner than later, and now I’m back here.”
Adames said he was fortunate to avoid serious injury after a foul off the bat of Brian Anderson struck him on the left side of his head near his temple on May 26 while he stood at the top of the Brewers dugout along the padded railing.
“(The doctor) was telling me, especially after he saw the video, he was like, he was really surprised I got lucky and it wasn’t that bad,” Adames said. “He told me right away it could have been way, way worse than what it was. Obviously it was concerning, but after the image, he said it right away.
“‘You got lucky. You’ve got a really hard head.’ I was like, ‘Everybody knows that.'”
Adames had imaging done promptly upon arriving at the hospital and then another round early the following morning. Once the results of both were in, Adames felt like he was close to being out of the woods.
“I was making jokes in the morning,” Adames said “I was like, ‘I want to be in the lineup tonight. Release me from here. I don’t want to be here.’”
Adames joined the Class High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last weekend to take part in workouts, then after passing those appeared in a pair of rehab assignment games.
After passing all the tests doctors and training staff required, Adames was pressing the Brewers to get back as soon as he could.
“I came today and went straight up to (manager Craig) Counsell’s office,” he said. “He already knew. He told me, ‘You’re in there.’ He knew I was going to ask him to play today. We were on the same page.”
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Brewers optioned Brice Turang to Triple-A Nashville
In the corresponding move, the Brewers optioned the rookie Turang to Triple-A on the heels of one of his best games in the majors, which wasn’t enough to override extended struggles at the plate.
“Obviously nobody ever wants to go back down when they come here,” Turang said. “It’s part of the game. You see some of the best players in the big leagues have been optioned before. It’s part of your journey. It is what it is. You got to produce up here and that’s what it’s about. I got to go back and get right.
“I’ll be back.”
Prior to a 2-for-4 game Monday night that included a tying single in the eighth inning, Turang had one hit in his last 40 at-bats to see his average dip to .198 and OPS to .534.
“Of course last night felt great,” Turang said. “Had a couple hits, one scored the tying run. But at the end of the day, I got to produce more than I did offensively.”
Turang will be back with the Brewers, whether in the near future or down the road, when the team will lean on him to help them win.
“The league has taught Brice some lessons here about offense,” Counsell said. “At this point it’s a time to, like, let’s just step back for a while, put you in a different environment where the pressure to produce is not so ‘there.’ We can relax a little bit, work on some things while still playing. That’s what has to happen. You do need to produce at a certain level to be a contributor to winning baseball.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers activate Willy Adames, option Brice Turang to AAA Nashville