Braves third baseman Austin Riley hasn’t taken the sphere for the membership since Sunday’s sport towards the Mets as a result of what was described as left facet tightness on the time. Whereas he’s spent almost every week out of fee at this level, he should be days away from returning to the lineup. The 27-year-old instructed reporters (together with Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Structure) that he has but to renew swinging a bat since he first suffered the harm, which he added that the Braves’ medical employees later termed intercostal irritation. Per Toscano, Riley didn’t decide to returning to the beginning lineup in time for the opening sport of the membership’s three-game set towards the Cubs in Chicago, which begins on Tuesday.
Ought to Riley miss Tuesday’s sport, he’ll have been out of fee for 9 days at that time. Such a prolonged absence would make the membership’s determination to not put the slugger on the injured checklist, which comes with a minimal keep of ten days, a wierd one. Even so, Riley indicated that the membership has not mentioned the opportunity of an IL journey with him. IL journeys can solely be backdated a most of three days, that means that Riley must miss at the very least every week from the day he’s positioned on the shelf earlier than he can return.
Supervisor Brian Snitker additionally addressed Riley’s absence with reporters right now, telling David O’Brien of The Athletic that the membership must contemplate a visit to the shelf for Riley if the soreness he’s feeling doesn’t enhance within the coming days. O’Brien added that, per Snitker, the membership’s hesitance to put Riley on the shelf so far stems partly from an absence of sturdy candidates to fill in for Riley within the higher ranges of the group. The one place gamers at the moment on the 40-man at Triple-A are outfielders Forrest Wall and J.P. Martinez.
Whereas the membership turned to utilityman David Fletcher earlier this season to fill in on the bench, Fletcher is not on the 40-man roster and is coping with off-the-field points relating to reported unlawful bets positioned on sports activities aside from baseball throughout his time in Anaheim. That would depart veteran utilityman Leury Garcia because the membership’s greatest choice to fill in for Riley ought to he find yourself heading for the injured checklist. Garcia struggled to a brutal .210/.233/.267 slash line in his final style of huge league motion again in 2022, when he appeared in 97 video games for the White Sox. Regardless of these abysmal numbers, Garcia has seen some success at Triple-A with the Braves this yr, posting a strong 113 wRC+ in 116 journeys to the plate.
Including to the membership’s harm woes is the absence of catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who exited yesterday’s sport towards the Padres as a result of dizziness after a foul ball struck his face masks. Braves followers obtained some excellent news relating to the veteran catcher right now, nonetheless, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman relayed that the 35-year-old is feeling significantly better right now, whilst he’s been held out of the beginning lineup for tonight’s sport. Bowman added that d’Arnaud is obtainable for use on an emergency foundation over the subsequent two days and that, so long as d’Arnaud’s enchancment continues, he might return to the lineup for the collection finale towards San Diego on Monday. Within the meantime, the Braves will lean on Chadwick Tromp to cowl for d’Arnaud behind the plate.
After being demoted to the position of a backup in deference to Sean Murphy final yr, d’Arnaud has resumed common catching duties for Atlanta this season since Sean Murphy was positioned on the injured checklist with an indirect pressure only one sport into the 2024 marketing campaign. He’s made the a lot of the extra taking part in time so far, hitting a superb .255/.336/.500 with 5 residence runs in 116 journeys to the plate. That being stated, it appears as if Murphy could possibly be nearing a return to motion in Atlanta within the close to future. MLB.com’s Harm Tracker notes that the Braves are at the moment planning for Murphy has seemed good in offensive and defensive drills throughout his restoration and is ready to start a rehab task throughout this upcoming week. Broadly considered among the many prime catchers in baseball on either side of the ball, the return of Murphy figures to supply an enormous enhance to the Braves as they head into the summer season 3.5 video games behind the Phillies for the NL East crown regardless of a robust 26-15 document.
