April 14: As expected, Atlanta announced today that Arcia has been placed on the 10-day injured list with Grissom recalled in a corresponding move.
April 13: The Braves announced today that shortstop Orlando Arcia has a microfracture in his left wrist. They did not provide a timeline on his absence but said he will be placed on the injured list. They have tonight off so that transaction won’t need to take place until tomorrow. Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays that Vaughn Grissom is not in the lineup for Triple-A Gwinnett tonight, making it possible he will be recalled, though that’s just speculation at this point. The club also announced that Ian Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery, a development that had been reported on earlier this week.
Arcia was hit by a pitch on his left wrist during last night’s game, a 98 mph fastball from Hunter Greene of the Reds. Though Arcia initially stayed in the game to run the bases, he was later removed and replaced by Ehire Adrianza. X-rays done last night were negative but the club announced today that an MRI and CT scan revealed the microfracture.
This is the latest plot twist in the Atlanta shortstop battle, a storyline that has had many since the end of the previous season. Dansby Swanson had held that job since 2016 but reached free agency and signed with the Cubs. It never seemed like Atlanta had much interest in meeting Swanson’s asking price to return, seeming to have confidence that Grissom could step up to replace him. The youngster had shortstop experience in the minors but prospect evaluators questioned his long-term viability there and he mostly played second base during his major league debut last year.
It was a risky move for a competitive club to leave a premier position open for a 22-year-old player with legitimate doubts about how likely he was to succeed, but Arcia was also around as the more-seasoned fallback option. He finished last year with 642 games of big league experience. He had been a full-time shortstop earlier in his career with the Brewers but had transitioned into more of a utility role in recent years.
Towards the end of spring, Grissom was optioned to the minors, with Arcia winning the Opening Day job. The latter was off to a strong start here in 2023, hitting .333/.400/.511 through 13 games. He wasn’t going to sustain that kind of pace all year, given his career batting line of .245/.298/.372, but it’s still a frustrating development for him to be shut down when he was in a nice groove.
Though nothing is official yet, it seems like Grissom will now get a shot at stepping up and seeing how he fares. There’s not much doubt about his offensive prowess, as he hit .291/.353/.440 in his debut last year and has a .366/.458/.585 line through 10 Triple-A games this year. The bigger question will be with his glove, which will undoubtedly get a lot of attention in the coming weeks. Depending how things play out between now and Arcia’s return to health, Atlanta will potentially have a difficult decision about how to proceed.
Said last night no fracture…
Hmm
It’s true. Then he went out to celebrate the news and fractured it.
“no fracture” = “teeny weeny microfracture”.
They didn’t hit zoom on the x-ray — that was an extra $50.
A microfracture may not be detected by X-rays, so it makes sense that they found it on further examination
Hard to see microfractures if there’s a lot of swelling. At least that’s what I was told with my ankle.
This is me, micro-waving goodbye to Arcia for the next few weeks. What a bummer.
he was probably team mvp through the first few weeks of the season.
Yeah, it’s a real bummer d’Arnaud and Arcia, two of their hottest hitters excluding Acuña Jr. and Olson, got their hot streaks cut short due to injuries.
You only get in the zone like that every so often throughout the course of a season, and has to be frustrating that their streaks got cut short due to no faults of their own…
Thankfully, Hilliard has been pretty solid filling in for Harris, Murphy has been an on-base machine, Rosario has stepped it up, and hopefully now Vaughn Grissom can come up and continue where he left off mashing in AAA.
It is crazy how the Braves’ total roster depth has been tested this much already, and we are just barely over a dozen games in.
The Braves are fortunate to have the record they have, injuries have taken a significant blow to their bullpen depth including three of their top bullpen arms, infield depth, outfield depth, their depth at catcher, and three fifths of their starting rotation…
Honestly, it has been difficult to get excited about their wins, because it seems like after each win there’s a report of someone important having to miss time..
The only saving grace during all of this is of course their ability to continue winning games, but also the fact that so far, other than Matzek and Anderson having to miss the entire season, the rest of their injuries aren’t very serious…(knock on wood..lol)
Fried’s hamstring injury does scare me, but that is just because hamstrings are so notoriously tricky. An injury that’s only supposed to keep you out for a few weeks can easily turn into a couple months.
You hear reports that is everything is healing, so and so is doing great, and you hear how they’re on track to come off the IL after they make an upcoming start or two in the minor leagues. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you get a notification on your phone a few days later talking about how they have reaggrivated it….Fast forward another month, and you’re left wondering how originally what was a two week IL stint ends up turning into that player missing two months…
I am a X-ray tech and it’s very easy to miss a microfracture on a 3 view wrist x-ray of which you have an AP anterior/posterior, oblique and lateral views.
And with most people in normal circumstances it would have been missed but the fact the Braves have quick access to MRI, CT and ultrasound they went the extra mile and indeed found the microfracture and Orlando can get the proper treatment he needs and will make a speedy recovery.
Thank you for this extra bit of information.
From one Braves fan to another, your insight is much appreciated.
That was from an X-Ray at the stadium .. MRI and CT have much greater detail and there was time for the swelling to go down some.
I had a microfracture in my left wrist that wasn’t detected by X-Rays. I kept complaining to my doctor that there was something wrong. and finally I was giving a MRI and that’s when the fracture was found.
At least Grissom is off to a hot start with the bat. If he’s the one brought up and continues to hit Arcia might find himself at 2B when he returns
And where is Ozzie Albies in that scenario? No if Grissom hits Arcia will find himself in a bench role when he comes back
Grissom will find himself in LF and hopefully Ozuna will be hitting the bricks.
Yeah, y’all definitely thought that through more than I did
He’ll be hitting something/someone besides a baseball that’s for sure.
Very good. But brick not hit back.
Grissom going need to show he can handle defensive position. That’s where the real drop off could be with Grissom
Trade Ozuna to the Red Sox for a bag of baseballs and a couple of Duvall’s bats. The Red Sox get someone who will mash that green monster, the Braves make room for Grissom and d’Arnaud gets to use Duvall’s bats again. win-win-win
Hit the bricks? Ozuna not only couldn’t hit a brick, he’d swing and miss if a pitcher tossed him a beach ball…What a monster disappointment.
Who would the Braves add to the trade to entice someone to take Ozuna off their hands?
Hit the bricks? Is he married to the bricks?
The most contact he makes is with the catcher’s head. I can’t think of anyone who has less control of his swing. I’m surprised that has not been an altercation.
They said hit the bricks, not shove the bricks. (Either is just as bad, btw)
Ozzie just need to bat RH only. his career splits are 80 points higher from the RH side. Those splits are even worse this year. He has a handful of ABs vs rightys from his RH side and had some success.
But he has more power from the left side
They might give him a drug test while he’s at the Dr’s office. The guy is hitting the ball like I’ve never seen him hit before.
Drugs are bad, m’kay?
He had developed some pull pop last year or so.
He’s hit 15 in a season twice before.
“You’re hitting well through 13 games…pee in this cup.”
@rishi
That made me laugh so hard, so true
They went from X-ray on Arcia to X-rated when they dealt Dick Lovelady.
Is this a bigger deal than a macrofracture? Or would that be a contradiction?
Braves fans were right, Grissom will be the shortstop for most of the season. Not by choice, but by injury.
Idk sounds like it could be a lot worse. Some people heal quicker. I’m not familiar with the timeline on a minor fracture or if it’s any shorter than a standard one. I don’t think there is any way Grissom is gonna play short as well as Arcia was playing it, tho he may end up serviceable.
The timeline is 4-6 weeks.
Next Man up! Sucks all these injuries lately from the starters, position players, and bullpen guys. No one is going to feel sorry for them. Long season and those guys on the 40 man need to stay ready. Still got Shewmake down there too. With Grissom getting the call he needs to take over in Gwinnett and rake.
bravesnation nc;
I think the juiced baseball has something to do with it. Balls are getting to fielders too quickly for them to react.
But isn’t it fun to see how high the MPH is when the ball is hit?
Samuel, Both teams get the same opportunity to put the ball in play. Braves infield has one error and that was a throw by Riley on opening day. This is Grissom’s opportunity to show the offseason work, extra time before games and games played at Gwinnett have helped him improve his craft. Like I said in previous post, no one feels bad for them when it’s time to play. Next Man Up!
40% of the opening day roster now on the IL. Yikes,
The Tigers will trade you Javy Baez, for a bucket of batting practice balls……
I mean i’d be ok with a marcell for baez swap…and then det covering about half of baez’s remaining contract.
Nope. Just the batting practice balls.
I would gladly trade Ozuna for Baez
Nope. Just the batting practice balls.
I was actually excited that Arcia was getting the opportunity to prove that his talent was worthy of his once high prospect status. Not everyone gets it together in their first opportunity as a starter.
He seemed to be playing a quite capable shortstop.
That not paying attention to what’s going on crap won’t fly in Atlanta. I remember when Snit sat Ronald for not playing hard. I honestly think the Baez contract was a extreme overpay.
Open tryouts are next week.