Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman is set to begin a rehabilitation assignment on Thursday with the team’s Gulf Coast League affiliate.
The Braves placed Freeman on the 15-day disabled list on Aug. 4 with a strained right oblique. Braves president John Hart said Freeman will initially play five innings in the GCL before increasing his playing time.
If all goes well, Hart said he anticipates Freeman will return to the Braves’ active roster on Wednesday, his first day of eligibility.
“I think it’s been encouraging what he’s been able to do out on his rehab,” Hart said. “I think there is a good chance we will get him back on the 19th.”
Freeman suffered the injury during an at-bat against the Giants on Aug. 3. Hart said the team thought Freeman would have to miss a week to 10 days but decided to place him on the DL because the roster was short with Andrelton Simmons already out with an injury, and also because the recovery time for oblique injuries is hard to predict.
Freeman suffered an injury to the same oblique on the day before the 2013 season opener and tried to play through it before going on the DL and missing 13 games. Hart said Freeman’s latest oblique injury isn’t as serious.
When he suffered the oblique injury on Aug. 3, Freeman had returned from a month-long stint on the disabled list with a right wrist injury. Freeman played in just one rehabilitation game in the GCL before rejoining the Braves.
The two injuries were separate but Hart said that, in hindsight, Freeman may have returned too soon from the wrist ailment.
“I think the good news here is that we got this early and I think this is something we will be able to manage,” Hart said.
Freeman leads the Braves with 14 home runs and a .500 slugging percentage.
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