The Colorado Rockies have made some roster moves in advance of tonight’s two-game set with the Cleveland Indians. Outfielder and No. 4 PuRP Raimel Tapia has been called up from Triple-A Albuquerque. In a corresponding move, utility infielder Alexi Amarista has been placed on the paternity leave, according to RoxPile. Paternity leave is limited to a maximum of three games, so expect to see Amarista back by this weekend’s series with the Chicago Cubs.
This is the third time this season Tapia has been called up to the major league club. The first came in April, when outfielder Gerardo Parra was placed on paternity leave, and he made two starts in left field. He was then sent back to AAABQ when Pat Valaika was called up. The second call up came after the team optioned Jeff Hoffman after making a spot start on May 11. In an interesting twist, Tapia was later sent back down to make room for Hoffman to make another spot start on May 22 against the Phillies.
Tapia has seen limited action with the big league club, earning just three starts and a total of 13 plate appearances. He has one walk and no hits thus far in 2017 with the Rockies. In contrast, he is hitting .359/.398/.526 in 166 plate appearances for Triple-A Albuquerque.
Amarista has mostly been filling in as a utility player in 2017 for the Rockies, though he and Valaika received several starts each while Trevor Story was on the disabled list. Amarista is hitting .338/.348/.515 in 69 plate appearances in 2017 and has made appearances defensively at shortstop, second base, and all three outfield positions.