Austin Jackson placed on 15-Day DL, Avisail Garcia called up from Triple-A Toledo

The Detroit Tigers announced Austin Jackson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a pulled left hamstring, retroactive to Sunday, May 12. Called up from Triple-A Toledo to take his place on the roster is outfielder Avisail Garcia.

Turns out the reason Jackson sat out Sunday's game with the Cleveland Indians was not to just get a day of rest. The Tigers' center fielder and lead off man had been nursing a hamstring issue for since mid-April which the Tigers have deemed a serious enough injury to require a stint on the disabled list.

This will be Garcia's second go-round with the Tigers after being called up on August 31 of last season. The 21 year old right-hand hitting outfielder received a significant amount of playing time in a right field platoon role during last season's playoff run. Garcia hit .319/.373/.319 with three RBI in 23 regular season games and .261/.320/.304 with four RBI in 12 post season appearances.

After missing the early weeks of the 2013 season due to a right heel contusion suffered during Grapefruit League play, Garcia is off to an excellent start with the Mud Hens. He's hitting .447/.541/.432 (16-for-37) with one home run and four RBI in eight games in Toledo.

Jackson (.272/ .333/.371, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 34 G) has been slumping since his hamstring became an issue on the west coast swing, and is hitting only .231/ .268/.308 with one RBI in the month of May.

As to who will replace Jackson in center field, Andy Dirks, Don Kelly, Torii Hunter (though he's only played one game in center since 2011) and Garcia (44 games with Double-A Erie) all have experience playing the position. Dirks has been batting lead off when Jackson was out of the lineup.