The Braves hope that outfielder Ender Inciarte will rejoin the team before the end of the regular season, but manager Brian Snitker couldn’t say with confidence that his Gold Glove outfielder could return by October.
Inciarte has been sidelined since mid-August with a right hamstring strain. He’s been progressing and did running and leg exercises in the outfield Tuesday afternoon.
“He feels good,” Snitker said. “I think he’s still a ways away from breaking on the ball, coming out of the batter’s box, all that kind of stuff. But he’s amping it up, feeling good. It’s just time consuming because he screwed it up pretty bad. But he is feeling better, all the reports are good. The drills are a lot different from taxing him, playing games, rounding the bases, coming out of the box and breaking on balls.”
When asked if Inciarte and/or utilityman Johan Camargo, who experienced a shin fracture, could return for the postseason, Snitker said each was a day-to-day circumstance.
Inciarte targeted a return before the postseason, perhaps during the Braves’ final five games in Kansas City and New York. Hamstrings are delicate, however, and the Braves always take the conservative route with injuries.
The Braves won’t rush Inciarte back, and the outfielder will have to prove he’s able to hit without difficulty for the club to feel comfortable adding him to the postseason roster, where he could serve in a bench capacity if the team wanted to keep Matt Joyce in the lineup.
