When will Wander Franco return to Rays lineup this season?

Tampa Bay Rays phenom Wander Franco hasn’t played since May 30 due to a right quadriceps strain. The shortstop may be back in MLB before the end of June. Here is the latest.

Wander Franco injury update

Although he has been out for a few weeks, Franco has been nagged by this injury since April and missed a handful of games because of it before the Rays decided to give him an extended break at the end of May. However, Franco began a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League on Saturday and is expected to play in a few games at Triple-A before returning to the Rays. If all goes well, Franco should be back in the big leagues a week or so. The 21-year-old was off to a relatively sluggish start, batting .270 with a .305 on-base percentage. But he was still making lots of contact (10.5% strikeout rate) and has a .306 expected batting average.

Taylor Walls has gotten the majority of the starts at shortstop in place of Franco, providing no value either offensively (44 OPS+) or defensively (-4 outs above average).