The Braves gave no update on Jonny Venters’ left elbow injury Monday, but a person with knowledge of the situation said it was still undetermined whether the relief pitcher would have surgery at this time.
Venters was examined by Dr. James Andrews on Monday morning in Pensacola, Fla.,
He left last Tuesday’s spring training game against Detroit with tightness in the elbow, but Venters said he didn’t hear a pop in the joint that he heard when he first hurt it in 2005. Andrews performed Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his torn ulnar collateral ligament after that injury and Venters missed the 2006 minor league season.
Big day for Gattis: The last time Evan Gattis came to Turner Field, he had to be introduced around. He was wearing a suit in 2011 and being honored as the Single-A Rome player of the year, along with standouts from other Braves minor league affiliates.
On Monday he drove into the players’ parking lot as a major leaguer. Even the security guard knew who he was.
“He was like, ‘Hey man, give ‘em hell this year,’” Gattis said. “It was too cool.”
Word is out and he’s one of the best stories in baseball this spring. The 26-year-old Gattis made the majors after a four-year odyssey out of baseball including a rehab stint for substance abuse, soul-searching and a series of odd jobs.
This was the second opening day Gattis had ever attended. The other came 19 years earlier, on April 1, 1994, when he was 7 years old and went to the first game ever at the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
“Me and my brother would just go run around,” said Gattis, a Dallas native. “(We’d say,) ‘We’re meeting at our seats before the end of the game.’”
His brother, Chase Gattis, was at Turner Field Monday night, along with 10 other friends and family members, including his father, Jo. Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Gattis would likely start the Braves’ second game Wednesday.
Chipper excited about team: After a season-long tribute to the retirement of Chipper Jones in the 2012, the Braves segued into the 2013 season by sending the former third baseman out to the mound Monday for the ceremonial first pitch.
It was a nice touch, right down to the tease a jersey-and-jeans-clad Jones provided the sold-out crowd by putting some zip on a fastball he threw for a strike to longtime teammate Brian McCann.
Not bad for a guy who had picked up a ball only once since last October, that one for a ceremonial first pitch at his father’s alma mater, Stetson University, in February.
“That’s the only ball I’ve thrown since that ball I threw into right field last year in the playoff game,” said Jones, who by now can laugh a little about that error he had in the wild-card loss to St. Louis.
Opening day is something Jones said he would have come to Turner Field for, whether the Braves invited him to throw out the first pitch or not. He called it one of the top two or three days all year to be in a major league ballpark.
“I can’t think of any other place I’d rather be today, whether I’m playing or not,” Jones said.
He did struggle a bit with pronouns, calling the NL East “our division” and then correcting himself. And Jones said it was weird to be back and not playing, but that’s about as far as he would take it.
“I miss it today,” Jones said. “But tomorrow I won’t.”
He watched the game from a suite, holding a cold beverage, wearing a ring on his right hand from the 2008 All-Star game, one of his eight All-Star selections.
His next officially scheduled trip to Turner Field will come on June 28 when his name will be added to the newly-designed facades along the right and left field lines honoring retired Braves numbers.
In the meantime, he’ll enjoy just being a fan of the 2013 Braves.
“I’m as excited as all the rest of the fans,” Jones said.
Left field carousel: The Braves had a different opening-day left fielder for the fifth consecutive season Monday in Justin Upton, who was also the eighth different player to start at the position in its past 10 opening days.
The only Braves to start two openers in left field in that span were Matt Diaz (2008, 2012) and Ryan Lanherhans (2006-2007). The others: Chipper Jones (2004), Brian Jordan (2005), Garret Anderson (2009), Melky Cabrera (2010) and Martin Prado (2011).
Prado would have started in left field for the 2012 opener, but was instead at third base filling in for Jones, who missed the opening series at New York while recovering from knee surgery.
The last Brave to start three consecutive opening days in left field was Jones (2002-2004).
Upton’s brother, center fielder B.J., also made his debut Monday as the Braves’ sixth different opening-day center fielder in seven years. Also, the Braves had a different opening-day shortstop for the fourth consecutive season in Andrelton Simmons, after Tyler Pastornicky (2012), Alex Gonzalez (2011) and Yunel Escobar (2010).
