Catcher Tyler Flowers was activated from the Braves’ disabled list Friday, almost one month to the day after straining his left oblique.
It initially was feared that Flowers might not return until well into March from the injury, which occurred on a swing in his first at-bat on opening day against the Phillies. He was activated before Friday’s series opener against the Phillies, but will wait to return to the lineup Saturday after catching a full nine innings Thursday in a rehab game with Double-A Mississippi.
“I feel good. No pain,” said Flowers, who was 1-for-11 with three rehab games in Double-A and Triple-A. “Played a few games, felt good.”
Flowers, 32, will move back into the catching tandem with fellow veteran Kurt Suzuki, a duo that was among baseball’s most productive on offense in 2017.
Suzuki, 34, is off to another strong start, batting .311 with four homers and a .946 OPS in 20 games before Friday including 14 starts. Suzuki was hit in the hand by a pitch in the second game of the season and missed four games, but avoided going on the DL.
Suzuki hasn’t shown any signs of wearing down despite starting 13 of the past 17 games. The Braves pieced together the catching situation while Flowers was out by giving some starts to veteran Chris Stewart, who’s now at Triple-A Gwinnett, and Carlos Perez, who was designated for assignment Friday.
When a reporter asked jokingly whether Flowers returned earlier than expected because he felt bad for Suzuki, Flowers played along and said, “It’s all the text messages that made me feel bad. Like, ‘What are you doing? Hurry up.’”
He smiled and added, “No, he’s been doing great.”
As for his own health, Flowers and the Braves’ medical staff were confident that he was ready to return after passing a battery of daily tests.
“I haven’t really felt pain in for about two weeks,” he said. “It was a matter of upping the intensity and everything, kind of testing it day by day, progression. I never got any pain out of it again I’d say for at least a couple of weeks now. And it’s been 100 percent, full-bore, even trying to exaggerate some things at home (working out in Atlanta) before I took off to play some games.
“We did, like, bunts up the third-base line and like, intentionally spinning out of it kind of reckless just to really torque it, and didn’t really feel anything. That’s when we felt comfortable to get some games in and see some real action.”
