Braves slugger Freddie Freeman has a fractured wrist and is expected to be out eight to ten weeks, the team announced Thursday.
Freeman left Wednesday night’s game against Toronto after being hit by a pitch in the left hand in the fifth inning.
Freeman was hit on a bone on the inside of his left hand, below the palm and just above the wrist, by lefty reliever Aaron Loup. One of baseball’s best two or three hitters so far this season, Freeman was attended to by trainer Jim Lovell briefly on the field before they walked to the dugout and up the hallway to an examination room adjacent to the home clubhouse at SunTrust Park.
The Braves placed Freeman on the disabled list and recalled infielder Rio Ruiz from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Freeman entered Wednesday leading the National League in home runs (14) and ranked second in on-base percentage (.457), third in slugging percentage (.754), fifth in walks (26) and sixth in batting average (.343).
It was the seventh time that Braves hitters had been hit by pitches in the past three games against the Blue Jays, including five times in Monday’s game at Toronto. But the sight of one of the majors’ best hitters walking off the field was about the last thing the Braves wanted to see, especially given the hand injuries that slowed Freeman in past seasons.
The injured area was on the inside of the hand on or just above the wrist, not the outside of the wrist in the area where Freeman sustained injuries that required two stints on the disabled list in 2015. Those injuries were to his right wrist.
About the Author
