WEST PALM BEACH – Second-base prospect Ozzie Albies gave Braves radio listeners and fans in attendance a brief scare when he crumpled to the ground after fouling a ball off his right knee in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game against the Nationals.
He left the game after the incident, but manager Brian Snitker said the injury wasn’t serious — a bruised knee — and he thought Albies could be ready to play by Thursday. He was reassigned to minor league camp Tuesday night, a move that was inevitable given that Brandon Phillips will be the Braves’ starting second baseman when the season begins.
“He just fouled it off his knee — that really hurts, just stings you so much that it’s unstable,” Snitker said. “Better to get some ice on it. Probably be sore tomorrow, but I would think in another day he should be good.”
Albies, who’ll start the season in Triple-A, entered Tuesday’s game as a defensive substitute in the bottom of the sixth inning. He was batting in the seventh with a 3-1 count when he fouled a pitch off his knee and fell to the ground in obvious pain.
He stayed down more than a minute while betting attended to by a trainer with Snitker standing nearby. Then Albies got up and said he could continue. He took several steps, shook his leg, then was unsteady as he got back in the batter’s box.
“TP (bench coach Terry Pendleton) started yelling at me when I walked away, said (Albies) got up and ‘bout buckled his knee,” said Snitker, who replaced Albies at that point. “I said, that’s enough. It’s like a funny bone when you get hit on the knee like that, but I think he’ll ice that thing, and we’ve got the day off tomorrow, he should be good to go the next day.”
Albies, 20, is the top position-player prospect in the Braves organization after rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson, and one of the top 25 prospects in baseball according to some evaluators. He had surgery after breaking the olecranon bone on the tip of his right elbow taking a swing in a Double-A playoff game in September.
He couldn’t work out for much of the offseason and missed the first 11 spring-training games before being cleared to play. Albies made another good impression with the Braves, going 6-for-16 (.375) with a double, three walks and a .500 on-base percentage in 10 games before his brief appearance Tuesday.
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