Braves right fielder Jason Heyward had surgery Thursday to repair his broken jaw, which was fractured in two places when he was struck by a 90-mph fastball from Mets pitcher Jonathan Niese during Wednesday’s game at New York.
On Friday, Heyward posted the following message on his Twitter page, @JasonHeyward:
Morning. Blessed to see another day.
Before I’m asked to do any interviews regarding my most recent injury, I’d like to personally..
Thank EVERYONE for their well wishes, positive thoughts and prayers. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of people that have reached out. That love, appreciation and respect makes it hard not to shed a tear. My friends, family and I are grateful. While baseball isn’t life I love this game to death. It’s also hard not to be frustrated and hurt for my teammates, coaches and fans that I have battled with and recieved support from all season. My heart goes out to them as I know there’s never a right time to be injured but at this point in the season it hits home the most. As a group the Braves still have high expectations for the rest of the season and I will participte in whichever way time and healing allows me to do so. On or off the field my teammates always have my love and support. Good, bad or indifferent. Our common goal is to make the playoffs and excel in October. My personal goal is to heal in time to be ready to join my teammates and coaches on the field for the postseason with the mindset to finish what we’ve started. Looking forward to joining my team asap and showing them support until I can be on the field again with them. In the mean time I’ll be doing my best to stay in shape. Putting my best foot forward for an opportunity to play in October.
I don’t like taking up your time by talking about myself much. I hate to bring the attention to myself alone, while it’s never all about me. It’s about all of us involved in the game of baseball. But at the end of the day I wanted EVERYONE to receive the “THANK YOU” and appreciation from me and only me because it’s most genuine. Again thank you, and take care. Talk to u/ see u soon,
Jason
