Chase d’Arnaud was scratched from the Braves’ lineup Saturday after he was involved in a minor traffic accident while driving to Turner Field. He wasn’t injured and went through the team’s pregame workout.
“He got in a fender-bender on the way here,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who replaced d’Arnaud at shortstop with Daniel Castro. “Not to say he won’t play (at some point in Saturday’s game), but it kind of shook him up mentally a little bit. Just have a little time here to gather himself — that’s what I told him, just be ready to go in a few hours, kind of take it easy.”
D’Arnaud entered the game as a third baseman in the top of the seventh inning as part of a double-switch when the Braves changed pitchers.
The versatile journeyman has been a pleasant surprise with the Braves, batting .356 (16-for-45) with four doubles and a triple in 14 games through Friday since arriving from Triple-A Gwinnett on May 2, including multiple hits in four of his past eight games.
“Nothing serious, but it was an accident,” Snitker said of the Saturday lineup scratch. “I said, I’ve been in a couple, and the aftereffects can sometimes wear on you a little bit. It wasn’t anything physical, he was just kind of shook up. Just letting him regroup.”
He had been set to make his first start at shortstop, where d’Arnaud has more experience than any other position. He’s made 11 starts for the Braves, including seven at third base, three at second base and one in right field.
The older brother of Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud, Chase has started 45 major league games in parts of five major league seasons with the Pirates, Phillies and Braves, including 25 starts at shortstop — two last season with the Phillies and 23 as a Pirates rookie in 2011.
“I’ve seen him at short the last few years a lot, and he played for me in Gwinnett,” said Snitker, who was promoted from Triple-A manager to interim Braves manager after Fredi Gonzalez was fired this month. “He’s such an athletic kid that when I played him at short at Gwinnett, it was like he was a shortstop, not somebody going over there standing at the position. I mean, he can play it.”
D’Arnaud started three games at shortstop for Gwinnett this season after playing 87 games at the position in 2015 for the Phillies’ Triple-A Lehigh Valley affiliate.
