Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman and right-hander Touki Toussaint have been cleared to rejoin the club, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Both players have been out since July 4 because of positive coronavirus tests. Reliever Will Smith landed on the shelf when Freeman and Toussaint did, but he hasn’t been cleared yet, per David O’Brien of The Athletic.
It’s not known how long it will take for either Freeman or Toussaint to ramp up, though manager Brian Snitker said Thursday that the Braves hadn’t yet ruled out Freeman for the Braves’ season opener on July 24. Whether or not he plays then, it’s clear Freeman’s season debut should come sooner than later, which no doubt comes as an enormous relief for the team. After all, Freeman’s a four-time All-Star who continued his reign as one of the game’s most feared hitters last season.
Toussaint doesn’t carry that type of prestigious track record, having thrown 70 2/3 innings with a 4.97 ERA/4.49 FIP and 9.81 K/9 against 5.99 BB/9 since he first reached the majors in 2018. But the 24-year-old’s a former high-end prospect whose return is a welcome one considering the need for pitching in a pandemic-shortened season. And the Braves could use the depth with Smith’s status up in the air, injured lefty Cole Hamels unlikely to be available for the start of the season, and righty Felix Hernandez having opted out of the campaign.
Nice! What about Will Smith?
great sign
Let’s go Braves!!!
On another note, when should we expect to see the starting lineups for opening day?
Braves needed freeman to have a shot this year so good for them.
Mets need degrom to fight for third place
good ol’ fashion smack talk between rivals….gotta love it lol
That dude is a huge Braves troll though. Look at his previous posts, he HATES that the Braves absolutely PWN the mets.
The Braves aren’t even the team in the NL east I hate the most. That belongs to the Phillies.. and no I think the Braves are a really good team. But if you seriously think they could win without freeman than I don’t know what to tell you
They’re not rivals. They’re not the Nats. Mets rivals are mediocrity and relevance.
They are good two years and they think they are the dodgers lol
Good enough to beat NYM continually, but that’s not that good. I hear ya. Lol
Yeah, @braveshomer
So far in my time here the Braves Vs Mets is the most interesting rivalry on the threads.
I was reading one the other day and I felt like I was at one of my son’s tennis matches lol.
Keep it up and keep it clean, fellas.
Yes. We needed him
Wasn’t will Smith asymptotic? Look, clearly I’m not a doctor, but seems like his recovery should have been quicker than freddie … any word how Smith is doing? Is he feeling fine still or did it get worse…
Mets still at least the third best team in the division. Its a shame they wasted all that great pitching. Pitchers like DeGrom don’t come around often wasting the prime of his career. Hopefully the Mets sign Betts in the off season. No excuses.
Or at least get JayLo to walk around.
Asymptomatic or not, every person is unique and their bodies fight off viruses and common colds differently. Will Smith will be ready when his immune system tells him he’s ready. He should just be thankful that he is asymptomatic and just needs to hope there are no long term complications from contracting COVID.
It’s amazing, isn’t it, that a human can recover from a deadly pandemical virus that is capable of halting and reducing human activity all over the world, and quickly return to a physically demanding job. It’s almost as if humans have some sort of ability to overcome microbes and carry on normally with minimal interruption.
Great, now let’s trade TT!
They really Touki their time.
Glad to see Freeman has recovered. Hopefully he won’t get tagged with this thing a second time.