Sad News Another Day, Another Injury: Today’s Scary HBP Removes Atlanta Braves Key Star
Another day, another injury: Austin Riley, a prominent player for the Braves, was taken out of the game following a frightening hit by pitch to the hand.
The Atlanta Braves are among the league’s more injured teams this season, and their circumstances only seem to be getting worse
They are competing for the third wild card slot in the National League without many players who are capable of being All-Stars.
They added another All-Star to their roster of injured players during Sunday’s game against the Angels.
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Austin Riley was taken out of the Braves game because to hand hygiene.
A fastball in the first inning against the Angels struck Braves third baseman Austin Riley in the hand. 97 miles per hour off the hand. Riley would bat first and steal bases till the end of the inning.
Riley was clearly hurting, but if he is forced to miss any significant time, the Braves organization may suffer much more. In the best-case scenario, Riley returns to the starting lineup in a day or two, the swelling is controlled, and the imaging results are negative.
In the worst situation, Riley would miss weeks of play while on the disabled list. If his hand happens to break at this stage in the season, it might end up costing him the entire season and forcing the Braves to find another hitter.
For a Braves club that is in contention for a postseason berth, this is the absolute worst case scenario. Riley will be necessary if they are to have any chance of making the postseason.
Riley had a batting average of.256, an on-base percentage of.322, a slugging percentage of.461, 19 home runs, 56 RBI, 63 runs, and 109 hits in 425 at-bats (110 games) this season.
The Braves’ only option at this time is to wait and see what Riley’s hand test findings indicate. They can only hope that there was not any significant harm.