Just as he said, Ozzie Albies is close to a return.
The Braves second baseman is scheduled to make a rehabilitation start with Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday and Wednesday in Jacksonville, Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
Albies hasn’t played since he fractured his left wrist attempting to tag a baserunner on July 21.
After the Braves wrap up their four-game series with the Dodgers, Atlanta has road series at Cincinnati (Tuesday through Thursday) and Miami (Friday through Saturday). Snitker said Albies may join the club in Miami.
“We’ll just kind of, I think, take it a day at a time and see how he feels,” Snitker said. “Right now he’s scheduled to play second (at Triple-A Tuesday) and Wednesday. If all that goes (well) I think he could join us in Miami.”
The switch-hitting Albies still feels discomfort with his left-handed swing and he will hit exclusively right-handed when he returns.
“I think it’s great if he’s comfortable with it,” Snitker said. “It (has to be) up to him. We just know how powerful that right-handed bat is and how good it is. We kind of need to see how it translates.”
Albies has not taken any live batting practice and his first live at-bats will be on Tuesday when the Stripers play at Jacksonville.
Snitker did not indicate what Atlanta’s plan is with Whit Merrifield, who has been playing second base in Albies’ absence.
“There’s a couple of options I guess we could do,” Snitker said. “We haven’t really talked about it yet.”
Albies has a .258 batting average and a .717 OPS with eight home runs and 46 RBIs in 361 at-bats this season.
“It’s a potent bat,” Snitker said. “I think he can help and we’ll take any help we can get scoring runs. I could see him in the middle of the order hitting behind Matt (Olson) and lengthening the lineup a little bit. Even if it’s right-on-right, I feel good about him doing it.”
Holmes get the nod
Snitker said right-handed pitcher Grant Holmes will start the first game of the Cincinnati series on Tuesday. It will be Holmes’ fifth start and the rookie has a 3.79 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched.
