Braves catcher Tyler Flowers is slightly ahead of schedule in his recovery from a left oblique strain.
Flowers left the March 29 opening-day game after pulling an oblique muscle during his first at-bat of the year. He was placed on the disabled list the following day.
Flowers has appeared in two games since March 19, an exhibition and the season opener, after being slowed by a groin injury toward the end of spring training. He had surgery to repair a damaged forearm and wrist in October.
“I watched some video of him swinging in the cage yesterday,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He feels good. An off day from hitting today, but he feels good. You still kind of have to go through the protocol with that kind of injury. I would think in the next couple days, he’d be hitting on the field with us and then (we’ll) assess when to send him out for some rehab.”
Snitker wouldn’t rule out Flowers joining the team on its next road trip, which opens Monday in Cincinnati. But they’ll continue a cautious approach.
“There’s a protocol he has to go through before he plays in that (rehab) game,” Snitker said. “So everybody feels OK with him going out. But everything, the throwing, the catching, all that has been really good.”
Flowers is coming off the best season of his career in which he hit .281 with 12 homers and 49 RBIs. He posted career-highs in on-base percentage (.378), slugging percentage (.445), runs scored (41) and average.
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