Evan Gattis rejoined the injury-riddled Braves a little sooner than expected, coming off the disabled list Sunday to fill in for first baseman Freddie Freeman in the final game before the All-Star break.
On the DL since June 23 for a strained oblique, Gattis played two injury-rehab games with Triple-A Gwinnett and had been scheduled to play another game with Gwinnett and possibly one or two games during the All-Star break with lower-level minor league affiliates.
But after Freeman became the fourth Braves lineup regular injured in a 48-hour span, Gattis was summoned from North Carolina, where Gwinnett was in the midst of a series against Durham. Center fielder B.J. Upton went on the 15-day DL with a strained right adductor muscle near the groin.
“Definitely excited to be back,” said Gattis, who caught a 7:15 a.m. flight from Raleigh to Atlanta and was in the lineup for Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. game against the Reds. “I’m ready to play.”
Gattis went 0-for-4 Sunday, lining out twice and flying out twice.
“I hit a couple of balls hard and that felt good,” he said. “It felt good to play an actual full game. I DH’d the last two in Gwinnett. It felt good to be out there and play a little first base.”
The entire Braves outfield is injured. Both Uptons, B.J. and Justin (calf), were hurt in Friday’s game, and Jason Heyward strained a hamstring Thursday.
Gattis had a .252 average with 14 homers, 37 RBIs and a team-best .577 slugging percentage in 53 games (163 at-bats) before straining the oblique muscle in his right side while hitting.
Despite missing 24 games, the catcher/left fielder — and emergency first baseman — still led major league rookies in homers (no other rookie had more than eight before Sunday) and RBIs. He also had twice as many pinch-hit homers (four) as any other major leaguer. He’s 6-for-8 with a majors-leading 11 RBIs a pinch-hitter.
Gattis went 1-for-8 for Gwinnett, doubling in his final at-bat Saturday night. It was only two rehab games after three weeks without facing live pitching, but Gattis said his timing at the plate was good by the end of Saturday’s game.
“A little rusty at first,” he said. “Felt good to square up a ball last night. An earlier at-bat I squared up one foul, hit the ball hard. I was disappointed when I struck out. Wasn’t because of my oblique or anything; I was just disappointed to strike out. That tells me I’m ready, and ready to compete.”
Gattis wasn’t permitted to do any baseball activities for a couple of weeks and only graduated from hitting off a tee last week.
“He’s healthy, from what I’ve seen, in his batting practice,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who got a report from Gwinnett manager Randy Ready before the callup. “His timing was (good on rehab). Randy said he had a double yesterday and a couple of good at-bats, so why not?”
Rotation change: The Braves will switch the rotation turns of Julio Teheran and Kris Medlen coming out of the All-Star break, with Medlen moving to the fifth spot and Teheran to fourth. The Braves play to start Tim Hudson in Friday's road-series opener against the White Sox, followed by Paul Maholm, Mike Minor, and then Teheran and Medlen in the first two games of the four-game road series against the Mets.
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