CHICAGO – The Braves could get a much-needed lineup boost within a week with the expected return of center fielder Ender Inciarte, who’s been out since pulling his left hamstring in the season’s third game.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Inciarte could come off the disabled list as soon as the three-game series against the Mets that starts Monday in New York, though a return during the homestand that starts Friday (May 6) seems more likely.
Inciarte has been playing in extended spring training games in Florida and will go on a short minor league rehab assignment before rejoining the Braves.
The Braves complete a three-city, eight-game trip Wednesday, then start a homestand May 6 against Inciarte’s former team, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Yesterday he played three or four innings on the field, had three or four at-bats,” Gonzalez said before Friday’s series opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “Hoping we get him back when we get back home, at the latest. It could be sooner, but we’re hoping at least at our place (for the homestand).
“We’re off Thursday, so that’s seven days away. That’s worst-case scenario. And maybe by New York.”
Inciarte batted leadoff all of spring training and during the Braves’ first three games before the injury. He had a single and a walk in each of the first two games, then was injured while running out a ground ball in the first inning of Game 3 on April 8.
He’s missed three weeks already, and Inciarte could end up missing a month, as he did for a strain in his other (right) hamstring last summer with the Diamondbacks.
When he returns the Braves will have a decision to make: Move Inciarte back atop the batting order or let Nick Markakis continue to bat leadoff. Since moving to the leadoff spot April 15, Markakis was 15-for-49 (.306) with a .424 on-base percentage, eight walks and 11 RBIs in the leadoff position through Thursday.
“When Inciarte comes back that’ll be a nice dilemma,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t know. We’ll talk about it. Nicky don’t (care). That’s the great thing about him, there’s no ego. When Inciarte comes back you want Nicky hitting in the first inning somewhere. And then (Freddie) Freeman, so I don’t know if you stack up all three or go crazy and put the pitcher eighth.”
