September 22nd, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Amid much speculation and rumor, the Dodgers announced on Monday that 28-year-old outfielder Joc Pederson has been reinstated from the family medical emergency list, and 25-year-old utility infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry optioned back to the team’s alternate training site.
Most of the speculation and rumor surrounding Pederson’s absence stemmed from the fact that his wife Kelsey recently gave birth to their second child.
As Dodger fans may recall, Pederson himself announced on social media back in April that he and Kelsey were expecting their second child. It was then announced by the Dodgers on September 8 that Joc had been placed on paternity leave when Kelsey gave birth to a baby boy. Simple math tells us that this meant a five to six-month pregnancy which, of course, raises serious health concerns for both Kelsey and the baby.
On the baseball side of things, Pederson has struggled horribly thus far in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 regular season, hitting an un-Pederson-like .174 with only six home runs and 12 RBI in the 38 games in which he has appeared. He has also struck out 30 times while walking 10 times.
But when he is bad he is horrid. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
McKinstry, who was used as a pinch hitter three times after his September 8 call-up (striking out twice), made his MLB debut on the field on Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. In the top of the third inning, the Toledo, OH native and Dodgers 33rd-round draft pick in 2016 out of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant collected his first major league hit, a two-out line-drive double to left field, off of Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela. McKinstry also singled in the top of the ninth to account for two of the Dodgers’ seven total hits on the day in the eventual 6-3 Dodgers loss.
Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
@Dodgers This is great, com’on Joc we need you to get that bat going bud. We know you are more then capable. 😊
Having the NL teams quarantining in Texas to play in the post season tournament may not bode well for Joc participating.
Pederson hasn’t been much help this season and he won’t be in the playoffs, only way he helps the Dodgers is when he becomes a FA.
Read the article again very closely (especially between the lines) and maybe you will get an appreciation of where his head is at right now. Then again, maybe you will not.
Clueless DOUCHE!
If you follow Joc on Instagram, you will see a post by the couple that baby #2 was due in September. I’m not saying that the family medical emergency wasn’t related to his baby boy (which has not been confirmed), but it is erroneous to say that the baby was only 5 or 6 months old at birth.
Fair enough.
I don’t do Instagram and I based my assumption entirely on Joc’s own tweet announcing that he and Kelsey were expecting their second child, and on the subsequent tweet by the Dodgers announcing that he had been placed on maternity leave.
As it should be, this has been an extremely well-kept private matter, and we may never know all of the details. But regardless of that, we will continue to send our prayers to Joc and his family.
Exactly. No one announces a child on the way the first week of pregnancy. Most likely she was along a good 6-8 weeks when they shared the news.
They already knew the gender so she was at least 12 weeks in April probably more