The Braves have boasted one of the better benches in the majors this season, but injuries are taking a toll. The Braves placed Jordan Schafer on the disabled list Thursday with a bruised right ankle, where he joins both Evan Gattis (oblique) and Ramiro Pena (season-ending shoulder surgery.)
Schafer was the last left-handed hitter on the Braves bench, so they called up switch-hitter Joey Terdoslavich from Triple-A Gwinnett trying to fill that void.
“We needed a left-handed bat,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “(Ernesto) Mejia was an option, but we had so many right-handed bats that Terdo makes sense. (He’s a) switch-hitter, but we need a left-hander.”
Terdoslavich, who earned his first major-league call-up, was hitting .318 in 85 games for Gwinnett, with 24 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs and 58 RBIs.
Gonzalez indicated Terdoslavich’s primary role will be as a bat off the bench. He can play either corner outfield position and has played some at first base and third base, but he’s most likely to play outfield, where his defense is “just OK,” Gonzalez said.
Schafer, who might be the Braves’ best defensive outfielder, has had difficulty running on a sore ankle, which he injured June 26 in Kansas City when fouled a ball off it. Schafer rested for five days, but still had some fluid build-up near his Achilles and was hobbled in a pair of pinch-hit at-bats in games against the Marlins on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Schafer did not appear to be happy about the decision to go on the DL, declining comment Thursday afternoon. He had indicated on Twitter he wasn’t happy about learning of the decision on Twitter as well.
Gonzalez said if the Braves had it to do over, they wouldn’t have hit Schafer in the first two games of the Marlins series. But either way, he thought Schafer might need the full 15 days from Thursday to recover.
“We thought it was getting better and then yesterday the way he ran to first base it was like, ‘Why put him through that stuff?’” Gonzalez said. “Let him get healed and let him not have to worry about it, or me worry about (whether to) play him not play him or when you can pinch hit him and use him.”
Terdoslavich, a sixth-round pick in 2010, is known for his hitting stroke. He broke a 65-year-old Carolina League record when he hit 52 doubles for Single-A Lynchburg in 2011.
He was seen as a possible heir apparent to Chipper Jones at third base, but his transition to third base the following season didn’t go well after the Braves promoted him directly to Triple-A Gwinnett. He was sent to Double-A Mississippi, where he moved to first base and began smoothing out his mechanics, hitting .315 in 78 games.
The Braves moved Terdoslavich to the outfield this spring and he continued his good work at the plate. He hit .395 in 26 games in major league camp, with four doubles, one homer and eight RBIs.
Terdoslavich was selected to play in the Futures game Sunday and the Triple-A All-Star game July 17. He is doubtful for either one now, but it didn’t stop him from having a little fun with his father late Wednesday night.
“I told him that I rolled my ankle,” Terdoslavich said. “He’s like ‘oh man, are you going to be able to play in the All-Star game?’ I said ‘No. It’s because I’m going to the big leagues.’”
The Braves did get some good news Thursday when Gattis was cleared to begin some light swinging. Gattis, who has been on the DL since June 18, took about 20 swings off the tee without incident and will slowly add to his baseball activities as the Braves head out on the road for Philadelphia.
