Braves pitcher Aaron Blair has a shoulder injury and will see Dr. James Andrews on Monday to determine the severity and whether surgery is needed.
Blair, who began the season on the Triple-A Gwinnett roster, left his opening start of the season Wednesday in the third inning after giving up a hit, three runs and five walks. The 25-year-old right-hander came out of the game after throwing a wild pitch and going to cover home.
“It wasn’t any one thing, it wasn’t an incident,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “t was kind of the wear and tear of throwing. He was sore and they looked at him.”
After having his sore right shoulder examined by a Braves doctor on Thursday, the decision was made to send Blair to see Andrews at the renowned surgeon’s clinic outside Pensacola, Fla.
“I talked to him yesterday,” Snitker said. “He’s got some stuff going on. ... I just hate that for him. He’s worked his tail off and was kind of getting back to where he wanted to be and now he’s got this setback. It’s just tough. Tough for him.”
Blair, a former Diamondbacks first-round draft pick, is coming off a career-worst season in which he made just one major league start for the Braves (allowing five runs, five hits and five walks in three innings) and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, going 7-9 with a 5.09 ERA, 107 strikeouts and 56 walks in 127 1/3 innings.
He reported to spring training this year nearly 40 pounds lighter than the previous spring, having shed most of the weight shed during a conditioning program this winter when he worked out daily at SunTrust Park to rehab and re-strengthen after tearing a lat muscle near his pitching shoulder in his final Triple-A start in 2017.
Blair, a first-round pick in 2013, was still a highly regarded prospect when he was traded to the Braves along with Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte in a one-sided deal that sent Shelby Miller to Arizona in December 2015.
He made his major league debut in 2016 with the Braves and went 2-7 with a 7.59 ERA in 15 major league starts. His prospect status sunk, and last season Blair struggled even more before getting hurt in his final Triple-A start, ending his faint hopes of being considered for a September call-up.
“He had a little setback this winter when he was coming back from the lat thing, that put him behind,” Snitker said. “Now he was catching up and feeling good, and I just hate it for him. Because he’s worked so hard getting everything back going.”
About the Author
