On Monday night Joshua Kuroda-Grauer hit the first home run of his MLB career. A couple of innings later, he fouled a ball off his testicles and has since had surgery for a ruptured testicle. The A's have placed him on the IL. Taking his place on the roster will be Max Muncy.

The team also announced that right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. has been placed on the IL with a right hip impingement, retroactive to June 19. The righty landed on the IL with the same injury a month ago, on June 20, and returned on July 3. In his time back from the IL, he tallied nine innings and gave up just one run, for a 1.00 ERA. He gave up five hits, walked three and struck out 13 in that span. 

Replacing Leiter on the roster will be right-hander Hayden Juenger, whom the A's acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays on June 27. He will be making his debut with the club when he pitches. Since coming to the A's, Juenger holds a 7.50 ERA in six innings with Triple-A Las Vegas. He's given up five hits, walked six, and struck out four. 

Most of that damage came in one home game, where he gave up four earned runs on three hits, two walks, and a pair of home runs against Tacoma. Three of his other four appearances have been scoreless. He also held a 2.59 ERA across 24 ⅓ innings with Triple-A Buffalo when he was with the Jays.

Muncy originally made the A's Opening Day roster, but has battled injuries and underperformance this season. On April 28, he was placed on the IL with a left fifth metacarpal fracture, which kept him out of action until June 8. 

On the year, Muncy has hit .227 with a .303 OBP and five home runs. He was optioned to Triple-A back on July 8, partially due to the emergence of Kuroda-Grauer, and has gone 7-for-25 with the Aviators, clubbing two homers, drawing five walks, and striking out six times. 

When he was optioned, manager Mark Kotsay mentioned that the A's can envision a breakout for him similar to the one Tyler Soderstrom had in 2025, so we broke down what they wanted him to work on and some of the data that supports that case. 

The A's have also been using him more in left field, where he has been placed regularly in his brief time with Las Vegas. The assumption here is that he'll be getting regular playing time at third base with JKG on the IL — at least until Zack Gelof returns.

Gelof is getting his stitches out on Tuesday and will need some time to get his leg into shape to be ready to take the field again. He will likely be out until at the very least the next homestand. 

Kotsay went and visited JKG in the hospital on Tuesday morning and said that he's in great spirits. 

"His personality is amazing. He's such a great kid. Unfortunate to have to lose him with the way he was performing and just the way he was integrated into this group," Kotsay said. "He'll stay one more night in the hospital and then travel back to Sacramento."

He also mentioned there's no real timeline for his return, given that this is a unique injury. He was also impressed with the fight that JKG showed, not only staying in the game and getting a hit, but also playing another half-inning of defense. 

A's top pick Drew Burress signed on Monday and is at Chase Field on Tuesday taking batting practice. Kotsay joked that Burress and Tommy White are in a competition for how many chains they wear. 

"Very confident young man," Kotsay said of meeting Burress. "Excited for his future in this organization." 

Colby Thomas got some imaging done, and the A's are waiting to see what the imaging comes back with. 

"If it's clean as the X-ray was, the soreness was significant enough to have to get the imaging," Kotsay said. "We'll wait to find out where it is and whether this is strictly a pain tolerance [thing] before we make a decision."