MILWAUKEE — The Braves aren't certain that injured first baseman Freddie Freeman will be ready to come off the disabled list July 17 when the All-Star break ends, but they're confident he'll be back by the end of the month.
Assistant general manager John Coppolella said Wednesday that Freeman was still getting treatment including injections every other day for the bone bruise in his right wrist, and would go to the team’s training site in Florida to work out as soon as he’s cleared for full baseball activities.
Freeman has been out of the lineup since June 17, and Coppolella said he’s made progress in recent days.
“The hope is that he’s back the second half of the season, but it’s kind of a day-to-day thing,” Coppolella said. “We can’t say for certain. I don’t see it going past the trade deadline (July 31). I could see it being as early as right after the break, the first game. I think it’s going to be somewhere in that two-week window. That’d be my guess.”
To the surprise of many, including some team officials, the Braves entered Wednesday’s series finale against the Brewers with a 10-8 record since their best hitter left the lineup. After scoring just 22 runs in the first 11 games after Freeman was shut down, the Braves were 6-1 with 26 runs scored in seven July games before Wednesday.
Their pitching has been outstanding since Freeman’s injury. The Braves had a 2.78 ERA in their past 18 games before Wednesday, including 2.52 in July.
“I think it’s a credit to (manager) Fredi (Gonzalez) and his staff that we lose Freddie Freeman and we’re still playing well,” Coppolella said.
The Braves won three consecutive series against Washington, Philadelphia and Milwaukee to get their record back to .500 (42-42) before Wednesday and pull within four games of the NL East-leading Nationals.
