Catcher Ryan Doumit had to leave Sunday’s game after taking a foul ball off his bare right middle finger in the second inning of the Braves game against the Yankees, but X-rays were negative. Doumit was diagnosed with a contusion.
The Braves had wanted their team doctors to read the X-rays before announcing the results, but manager Fredi Gonzalez was hopeful given early indications after Doumit left the game that his injury wasn’t serious.
“He was moving it around so let’s keep our fingers crossed I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to be serious,” Gonzalez had said immediately following the game. “The good thing is he kept his fingers loose, there’s some absorption there, and maybe that saved him.”
Freddie Freeman got hit in the left hand, his glove hand, by a line drive up the line and also left the game after the second inning. He was diagnosed with a left thumb contusion but Freeman said he came out for precautionary reasons.
“There’s no point in trying to be a hero in spring training, especially when we’re getting close to the end,” Freeman said. “Just get some ice on it the next couple days and see where we go from there.”
As for Doumit, Freeman said he could hear the foul ball hit Doumit’s finger from first base. Doumit immediately started shaking his right hand and walked off the field after he was hit. He was replaced by top catching prospect Christhian Bethancourt.
With a runner on first base, Doumit had set up to catch the pitch from Julio Teheran with his right hand exposed, rather than behind his glove or his right leg. He was hit flush in the finger by a Pete O’Brien foul tip.
“There’s a fine line,” said Gonzalez, a former minor league catcher. “Where you can put your hand behind the glove or you could put it behind your right shin guards, whichever that he feels comfortable. I think he just got caught (in between), one of those things.”
The Braves former first round pick Sean Gilmartin to the Twins for Doumit to serve as a third catcher, corner outfielder and veteran pinch hitter.
Freeman suffered a jammed left thumb last July 14 against the Reds and wasn’t able to play in the All-Star game the first year he was selected. Freeman said this was different because it wasn’t a jam job, but a line drive off the meaty part of his hand.
“This one is not too bad I don’t think, so we’ll be all right,” Freeman said.
