Braves second-base prospect Ozzie Albies will miss the rest of the Double-A playoffs and the Arizona Fall League season after fracturing his right elbow Wednesday in a playoff game at Pensacola, Fla.
Albies, 19, will have surgery next week to repair a fracture of the olecranon bone at the tip of the elbow. The Braves said he’s expected to resume baseball activities at some point after Jan. 1.
They hope that he’ll be ready for spring training, where Albies was expected to compete for a starting job on the major league team prior to the injury.
One of the top prospects in baseball, Albies won the Southern League batting title with a .321 average for Double-A Mississippi.
He was injured in the sixth inning Wednesday when he hit a hard foul ball that outside the left-field line on a pitch that was in on his hands. Albies immediately hopped from the batter’s box while grabbing his arm in pain.
Albies hit a combined .292 with 49 extra-base hits (10 triples, six homers) and a .778 OPS this season in 138 games for Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett, starting and finishing the season at Mississippi after batting .248 with a .659 OPS in 56 midseason games for Gwinnett.
