Andrelton Simmons’ sore right wrist had improved on Friday, but manager Fredi Gonzalez wanted to give him one more day to rest before getting his dynamic shortstop back in the Braves lineup.
“I’m 95 percent sure that he’ll be fine,” Gonzalez said. “I also want to make sure that he is fine. I don’t want something small to turn into something big, especially when you’re dealing with hands, fingers and wrists.”
Simmons took batting practice and threw on Friday, confident he’d be back.
“I feel fine today, but I’m guessing they’re cautious and just giving me another day off, but I’m ready to go whenever they tell me,” said Simmons, who said he could come off the bench Friday night if needed.
In a ceremony before the game, Simmons was to be awarded his first of surely many Rawlings Gold Gloves, as well as his first Platinum Glove for being the National League’s top overall defensive player.
Simmons jammed his wrist on a play at the plate Wednesday night against the Mets and was scratched from Thursday’s game after he woke up sore the next day.
Ironically it was while trying to avoid a collision at the plate, paying special attention to the new rules, that Simmons hurt himself. He lost his balance after being thrown out easily on the play and tripped over home plate umpire Mark Ripperger, landing hard on his right wrist.
“I was going to charge,” Simmons said. “I was like ‘Oh, I don’t want to make it seem like I was trying to hurt him,’ and then I slowed down. Then being too careful got me a little more banged up.”
When he got back to the dugout, Gonzalez and bench coach Carlos Tosca encouraged Simmons to slide on that play or to get into a rundown, to help get the two runners behind him into scoring position.
And really, they want Simmons just to treat that play like he normally would. If the catcher is blocking the plate, the runner is allowed to initiate contact, as long as it’s not malicious and he doesn’t deviate from his path to the plate.
“You can still collide,” Gonzalez said. “I wouldn’t say a violent collision or where a guy comes in shoulder high and then he uses his forearms to push away or deviates from home plate to go get the catcher. As long as the catcher has the ball and you get a lane before (he) catches it, when (he) catches it, you can take it away from him.”
Not that Gonzalez is going to be encouraging Simmons to draw a lot of contact in the first place, though.
“I don’t want him running over the catcher anyway,” said Gonzalez, smiling. “I think he’s going to lose that one, unless he’s playing with a small little catcher. I don’t want any of my guys hammering (the catcher). Maybe (Evan) Gattis or Danny (Uggla). I don’t think any other guys.”
