Braves put Johnson on DL with tendinitis

Washington, D.C.- The Braves put struggling second baseman Kelly Johnson on the disabled list Friday with tendinitis in his right wrist and called up Brooks Conrad from Class AAA Gwinnett.

Johnson had been scuffling at the plate for about a month before being replaced by Martin Prado as the starting second baseman on Wednesday night. Johnson had hit .168 with no home runs and five RBIs in his previous 28 games. His average is down to .214 for the season.

Johnson had multiple cortisone shots and did not accompany the Braves to Washington.

“His wrist has been bothering him,” manager Bobby Cox said. “Why not just get a shot, sit down for three days and then play and see if it gets better.”

With Prado as hot as he is - hitting .440 (11-for-25) on the Braves’ recent 10-game homestand - the Braves can afford to give Johnson time to let the cortisone shot take effect and likely send him on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment.

Chipper Jones said Johnson dealt with a similar problem last year, got a shot, and then took off at the plate in the second half. Johnson hit .308 after the All-Star break last year.

“Hopefully that’s what happens here,” Jones said.

Conrad, who is 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, will fill in off the bench primarily as a second baseman. He played some shortstop in Gwinnett, along with third base and right field.

The Braves got to know Conrad during major-league spring training, and Cox liked what he saw.

“The fans are going to like him,” Cox said. “He’s a gamer.”

Conrad found out he had made the International League All-Star game Thursday and was called up the next day. He flew in from Norfolk, Va., on Friday morning.

“It was a couple of nice surprises,” Conrad said.

Conrad hit nine home runs for Gwinnett, which tied Barbaro Canizares for the team lead. He leads Gwinnett and is fifth in the International League with 46 runs scored. He’s hitting .259 on the season, but has six hits in his past 16 at-bats, a .375 average.

This is Conrad’s second big-league stint after he spent 12 days with Oakland last season. He went 3-for-19 (.158) in six games.

Notable

• Center fielder Nate McLouth returned to the lineup Friday night after missing five games with a strained left hamstring. McLouth has been trying to talk his way back in the lineup for several days but took extra time on the advice of Cox so that his injury wouldn’t develop into something worse.

“It’s one of those things you can come back from before it’s ready and it can turn into a long-term thing,” McLouth said before Friday’s game.

• The Braves will face three left-handed starters this weekend in Ross Detwiler, John Lannan and Scott Olsen, which means Matt Diaz, one of their hottest hitters, will stay in the lineup. Diaz had back-to-back three-hit games against the Phillies and went 7-for-13 (.538) with a homer on the Braves’ recent homestand.

That could mean more pinch-hit appearances for the left-handed hitting Garret Anderson, who hit the first pinch-hit home run of his career Thursday night.

• Left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes (hamstring) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Saturday in Gwinnett and if all goes well he’ll begin a rehabilitation assignment on Tuesday with the G-Braves.