WASHINGTON – Evan Gattis rejoined the Braves at Nationals Park for Wednesday's series finale, after spending the past two days in his hotel room and at a hospital getting intravenous fluids during a bout with strep throat.
The catcher lost some weight – he didn’t know how much – but said he felt better Wednesday and thought he would be ready for the three-game series against the Rangers at Texas after the Braves’ day off Thursday. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez plans to use Gattis as his designated hitter for all three games, barring any unexpected developments.
Gattis had a game-winning homer in the 10th inning Saturday at Miami, then began to feel fatigued during the Sunday afternoon series finale against the Marlins.
“I just thought I was tired,” he said. “Just felt a little more tired than usual, and achy. I didn’t know why. And after the game I was the last one out of the dugout. I just didn’t feel right. And then on the airplane I got shivers and fever and stuff like that, and that’s when I really knew something was wrong.”
He was diagnosed with strep throat after seeing a Washington doctor Monday, and Gattis spent part of Tuesday with an IV tube in his arm at a local hospital.
Asked Wednesday if he was feeling better, he said, “Compared to how I felt (before), absolutely. I feel pretty good.”
Gattis is a Texas native from the Dallas area. He was asked whether this was a particularly frustrating time to be sidelined by illness, in a big series against the Nationals and with the trip to his hometown coming up.
“Absolutely,” he said. “The big series, more importantly.”
Promising Braves rookie Christian Bethancourt is scheduled to catch the first two games against the Rangers and veteran backup Gerald Laird is expected to catch the series finale Sunday with Mike Minor pitching for the Braves.
“(Bethancourt) will catch two out of the three, but we’ve had more than a little bit of success with Mike (Minor) and Laird,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I think Laird has caught three, maybe four of his last seven games since (Minor’s) come back.”
The Braves will start Alex Wood in the series opener and Julio Teheran in the middle game.
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