Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley’s broken hand has not healed sufficiently for him to rejoin the team for the playoffs
Austin Riley’s broken right hand will keep him out of the playoffs if the Atlanta Braves make it that far.
A CT scan on Monday showed that the third baseman’s injury has not healed enough.
“It just wasn’t healing enough to think that he could come back this year,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said on Tuesday.
Riley was struck by a 97 mph fastball from Jack Kochanowicz of the Los Angeles Angels on August 18. He was expected to miss the rest of the regular season, but there was some hope that if the Braves went deep into the playoffs, he might be able to return.
“He’s still in a cast, so realistically, it was going to be pretty tough for him,” Snitker said. “We’d have to go pretty deep in the playoffs. It is not where the doctors wanted it to be.”
As the final week of the season approached, the Braves were 1.5 games behind Arizona for the third NL wild card spot.
Riley had 19 home runs, 56 RBIs, and a .256 batting average in 110 games, following a season where he hit 37 home runs and drove in 97 runs. The two-time All-Star had averaged 159 games in the previous three seasons.
Snitker mentioned that Riley is expected to be fully healed before spring training.
Third baseman Gio Urshela, who was released by the Tigers on the same day Riley was injured, was signed by the Braves and has a batting average of .270 with three home runs in 30 games for Atlanta.
The Atlanta Braves have activated Dominican starting pitcher Reynaldo López from the injury list with right shoulder inflammation. His return comes at a crucial time as the Braves seek to clinch the postseason. Lopez will start against the Kansas City Royals, who claimed yesterday’s final AL wild card spot. They have not made it to the postseason since 2015. Last season, the Braves earned the top record in MLB while making their sixth consecutive postseason appearance. Now, the Braves are looking to continue the momentum from last season and make their seventh successive appearance in the postseason. With the Braves activating López, right-hander John Brebbia has been optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Braves Activate All-Star Pitcher Amid Significant Postseason Push
The Impact López Provides Braves
López has been on the IL twice this season. He was first on the IL on July 28th with a forearm injury. Then, on September 10th was placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. The 30-year-old has an 8-5 record with a 1.15 WHIP, 137 punchouts, and a 2.03 ERA this season. López is one of the Braves top starters this season and has returned at a significant time. The veteran has experience as a starter and pitching in the bullpen. His role has transitioned from a reliever to a starter, which has provided him with more knowledge. He brings versatility, which makes him much more valuable to the Braves. His experience has permitted him to handle high-leverage situations.
If López can sustain the Royals’ offense and put zeros on the scoreboard, he can lower his ERA to under 2.00. Since he’s just returning from the IL, he will likely have a limited pitch workload of
between four and five innings. He, without question, has the capability not to surrender any runs. López this season, in his first All-Star appearance, he pitched a scoreless outing and has pitched scoreless outings in his career before. Earlier in the season, when López was asked what the key to his success was, he claimed that it all had to do with his mentality. Pitching is one thing, but mindset and mental game are different. When a pitcher or player lacks confidence, it plays a significant role. This is something we have seen from pitcher Alek Manoah. His mental game got in the way of his success, and he wasn’t able to return to his 2022 Cy Young contention.
