Cincinnati Reds top prospect Nick Senzel has a sprained right ankle and will be in a walking boot for 7-14 days.
The Reds announced Tuesday that Senzel suffered the injury in a minor league game Monday.
Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams told reporters that Senzel “caught a spike and rolled his ankle over” while sliding into second base.
Senzel primarily has played third base during his career in the minors, but the Reds have been working him in at center field this spring.
Williams said Senzel will resume his transition to center field at Triple-A Louisville when he returns from the injury.
Senzel, 23, already was set to begin the season in the minors after the Reds reassigned him to minor league camp on Friday.
Senzel’s agent, Joel Wolfe, told ESPN’s Jeff Passan that the Reds’ decision to have Senzel begin the season in the minors “feels like a simply egregious case of service-time manipulation.”