Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia is eligible to come off the disabled list Friday, and manager Brian Snitker thinks he’ll be ready to play that day.
Snitker also indicated the Braves could decide to keep rookie third baseman Rio Ruiz and have them share duties at the position. Ruiz hit a big two-run homer off Nationals ace Max Scherzer in Saturday’s Braves win and made his third consecutive start at third base and fourth in five games Monday.
Garcia has been on the DL since Tuesday with left Achilles tendinitis. He hit .279 with two homers, 10 RBIs and a .324 OBP in his last 16 games before going on the DL.
“I would be real surprised if he’s not ready to go on (Friday) or whatever his day is (that Garcia is eligible to come off the DL),” Snitker said. “Because he’s moving around. I think he took the (protective) boot off today, and he was hitting the in the cage. I think the swelling and all that kind of stuff went down. So I’d be real surprised if he’s not ready to go when his (miniumum) days are up.”
Ruiz was 2-for-10 with one walk and four strikeouts before Monday. The Braves liked his aggressiveness and hard-hit balls since he arrived from Triple-A.
“With Rio being here it’ll be a good situation, we won’t have to beat (Garcia) up,” Snitker said. “Let them both handle the position, try and not — hopefully — aggravate (Garcia’s Achilles) again.”
If the Braves decided to keep Ruiz on the roster along with Garcia, they would presumably have to move one of two similar utility players, Emilio Bonifacio or Danny Santana. They’ve given no indication of how the roster might be configured if Garcia stays.
