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Braves Claim Ha-Seong Kim From Rays

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The Braves have claimed infielder Ha-Seong Kim off waivers from the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the claim prior to the official announcements. Atlanta transferred Austin Riley to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Riley is done for the season following core surgery.

It wasn’t previously reported that Kim was on waivers, but it seems the Rays quietly put him out there to try to shed his contract. Atlanta obliged, so the Rays will get out from under that deal. Tampa signed him to a two-year, $29MM pact in the winter. He is making $13MM this year, with just under $2MM left to be paid out. The second year is a $16MM player option.

That deal was the Rays betting on Kim being able to play at his usual level after shoulder surgery finished his 2024 campaign. Over the 2022 through 2024 seasons with the Padres, Kim had slashed .250/.336/.385 for a 106 wRC+. He had stolen 72 bases in that span and received strong grades for his defense at second base, third base and shortstop. FanGraphs credited him with 10.5 wins above replacement for that three-year span.

With the surgery, he was expected to be on the injured list to start 2025, which dampened his market. Some argued he was trending towards a nine-figure deal before he got hurt. Instead, he opted for the short-term, opt-out structure. Ideally, it would have worked great for both sides. If Kim had bounced back to his previous levels of performance, he could have taken the shortstop job in Tampa and then opted out. At that point, the Rays could have given him a qualifying offer and received compensation as he returned to the open market in search of a larger guarantee.

It has not played out that way. He was initially reinstated from the IL in early July. Since then, he has twice gone back on the IL due to back problems. Around the IL stints, he has played in 24 games and produced a measly .214/.290/.321 line.

Given that performance and the injury absences, it’s possible that Kim is trending towards triggering his player option. That would have put $16MM on Tampa’s books for next year. That’s not a massive sum and the Rays have very little committed to next year’s club, but they are also dealing with plenty of uncertainty.

Due to the hurricane damage to Tropicana Field, they have had to move to George Steinbrenner Field, normally a minor league facility. That move has undoubtedly led to a lot of unforeseen costs and presumably less revenue than usual. Work is still being done to get The Trop ready for 2026 and it’s unclear how that will play out. On top of all that, the franchise is actively being sold and it’s unclear what sort of payroll the new owners will give the front office as they focus on building a new stadium.

It seems they preferred to let Kim go and save some money as opposed to keeping him around and hoping for better results next year. They are 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. They are not totally buried but are likely happy to save the remainder of the money, due to those big-picture questions. They will use the remainder of the regular season to continue giving reps to shortstop prospect Carson Williams. He was promoted when Kim’s most recent IL stint started just over a week ago. Williams has big questions about his penchant for strikeouts but he clearly has power and is considered a strong defender.

Atlanta, however, is in a very different situation. They normally run one of the larger payrolls in the league. They came into 2025 seemingly hoping to duck under the competitive balance tax. Back in February, chairman Terry McGuirk said the club still had some powder dry for in-season moves.

This year has turned into a nightmare season for the club. Due to several injuries and a PED suspension for Jurickson Profar, they fell behind their competitors and were never able to recover. They currently have a 62-75 record and are 11 games back of a playoff spot.

President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has been using that dry powder to try to start working on the club’s 2026 comeback season. He acquired Tyler Kinley from the Rockies ahead of the deadline and claimed Jake Fraley off waivers from the Reds. Kinley is making $3MM this year and has a $5MM club option for next year. Fraley is making $3.125MM and will be due a raise via arbitration for 2026, his final season of club control.

Claiming Kim is a similar move but with larger numbers. As mentioned, Kim is making $13MM this year and will make $16MM next year. It’s theoretically possible that Kim gets hot down the stretch and opts out. That would make this claim go for naught, but the club would only lose a bit of money in that scenario. Presumably, they are hoping Kim decides to trigger his option and stay, so it seems they think $16MM is a fine price for betting on a bounceback next year.

It’s an interesting gambit for their middle infield, a situation that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a close look at, in a post for Front Office subscribers. Atlanta has had Nick Allen at shortstop this year. He’s a strong defender but is essentially the worst hitter in the majors by a noticeable margin. Among guys with at least 400 plate appearances this year, Allen’s 53 wRC+ is dead last. Ke’Bryan Hayes is second-last on that list, with a 67 wRC+. Getting another shortstop and bumping Allen into a bench role seemed like a key thing on the to-do list for next year.

However, the offseason options weren’t going to be great. Bo Bichette is going to be the top free agent but Atlanta hasn’t really spent a lot in free agency lately. Under Anthopoulos, their biggest expenditure on the open market has been $65MM for Marcell Ozuna. With Bichette possibly trending towards something in the $150-200MM range, it didn’t seem like Atlanta would be the favorite to land him. Trading for someone like Trevor Story or Javier Báez may have been possible but it’s unclear if their respective clubs would make them available and they come with concerns of their own.

Rather than wait around and deal with the offseason uncertainty, Atlanta seemingly preferred to simply grab Kim now. That adds $16MM to next year’s books but they have some financial flexibility opening up. Ozuna and Raisel Iglesias are both impending free agents. Each of them individually are making $16MM this year, the same salary that Kim is set to make next year, assuming he doesn’t return to free agency.

Rosenthal notes that Kim is ready to come off the IL. That means Atlanta can use the final few weeks of the season to get a look at him. It seems they are hoping that Kim looks good but decides to trigger his option, therefore solving their shortstop question for next season.

In addition to this claim, the Rays announced that right-hander Kevin Kelly has been recalled and outfielder Richie Palacios reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Those are their two September call-up moves, with Palacios taking the 40-man spot vacated by Kim.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Austin Riley Undergoes Season-Ending Core Surgery

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The Braves announced today that third baseman Austin Riley has undergone core injury surgery, which will end his season, though he is expected to return for spring training 2026. He is already on the 10-day injured list. He’ll be transferred to the 60-day IL once the club needs his 40-man roster spot.

The club also announced their previously-reported claim of right-hander Cal Quantrill, with righty Dane Dunning optioned in a corresponding move. They also activated outfielder Jake Fraley, another waiver claimee, and recalled left-hander Dylan Dodd. In corresponding moves for those two, they optioned right-hander Connor Seabold to Triple-A and placed infielder Luke Williams on the 10-day IL due to a strained left oblique, retroactive to August 19th.

In the short term, the Riley news isn’t a huge deal for Atlanta. They are playing out the string on a lost season. They are 58-69 and 9.5 games back of a playoff spot. As mentioned, Riley was already on the injured list, having landed there earlier this month due to an abdominal strain. Losing him for the rest of 2025 doesn’t mean much.

The more notable concern is the long term. This the second straight year that Riley will finish on the injured list. In 2024, his last appearance was August 18th, when he was hit on the hand by a pitch. He suffered a fracture and wasn’t able to return down the stretch.

From 2021 to 2023, Riley appeared in at least 159 games each season. He slashed a combined .286/.354/.525 for a 136 wRC+ over that time. FanGraphs credited him with at least 5.1 wins above replacement in each of those campaigns.

His contributions since then have been more modest. Last year, even before the hand fracture, he wasn’t at his best. He had a .256/.322/.461 line and 114 wRC+, still 14% above league average but not up to his previous standard. This year, he has twice gone on the injured list due to abdominal issues and has now gone under the knife. He will finish the year with a .260/.309/.428 line and a 103 wRC+.

Atlanta has seen a number of players struggle or get injured this year, which has naturally made the team worse. A lot of those players, including Riley, have been locked in by long-term extensions. That means the club can’t do much apart from hope that their guys bounce back and perform better going forward. Riley’s ten-year, $212MM contract runs through 2033, so he’s still a huge part of the club’s future. Ideally, getting over this issue and coming into 2026 healthy will get him back on track, though time will tell if will come to pass or not.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Braves Place Austin Riley On Injured List

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The Braves have placed third baseman Austin Riley on the 10-day injured list due to an abdominal strain, per a team announcement. Atlanta also optioned outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A Gwinnett. In place of Riley and Kelenic, infielders Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Jonathan Ornelas were recalled from Gwinnett.

Riley, 28, missed about two weeks with an abdominal strain last month as well. He was only reinstated from the injured list on July 25. It’ll go down as a fleeting return — and one in which Riley didn’t really look right. He belted two homers between his IL stints, granted, but those were two of just four hits in a total of 39 plate appearances. Riley hit .108/.154/.297 and punched out 15 times (38.5%) before returning to the injured list.

It’s been a down year overall for Riley. His .260/.309/.428 batting line (104 wRC+) is solid enough but is also his least-productive run since a midseason debut in 2019 and the shortened 2020 season. Riley’s walk and strikeout rates are both the worst of his career in a full 162-game season (6% and 28.6%, respectively), and this year’s .168 ISO (slugging minus batting average) is his worst in any season at the major league level.

The team didn’t provide a timetable for Riley’s potential return. It’s common in situations like this, where a player heads back to the IL for the same injury after a brief return, for the second stint to be longer and a bit more cautious. Each injury is a situation unto itself, however. Manager Brian Snitker will presumably have more information the next time he meets with the media.

Kelenic, 26, only appeared in one game during this stint with the Braves and didn’t log a plate appearance. He was used as a pinch-runner. Atlanta optioned the struggling former top prospect to Gwinnett in mid-April after he opened the season with a bleak .167/.231/.300 batting line in his first 65 plate appearances. Things haven’t gone much better in Triple-A, where he’s taken 308 plate appearances and delivered just a .218/.289/.321 slash with a 27.3% strikeout rate. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for a second time this winter and, at this point, stands as a clear non-tender candidate.

Alvarez has spent most of the season nursing a wrist injury. He’s struggled in 32 big league plate appearances but been an on-base machine in a small sample of 84 trips to the plate in Gwinnett (.242/.405/.333). He’s still looking to break through with a full-time role in Atlanta after ranking among the system’s more promising minor leaguers for several years now.

Ornelas will be making his Braves debut the first time he takes the field. Atlanta picked him up in a cash swap with the Rangers back in May after Texas had designated the 25-year-old for assignment. He’s a righty-swinging infielder with experience at second, third and shortstop. Ornelas has batted only .184/.245/.224 in a tiny sample of 54 MLB plate appearances across three seasons with the Rangers. He’s a good runner with a solid glove who’s light on power. In 319 turns at the plate between the Triple-A clubs for Texas and Atlanta this season, he’s turned in a tepid .202/.320/.300 batting line.

Braves Place Austin Riley On 10-Day Injured List

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The Braves announced that third baseman Austin Riley was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right abdomen.  Right-hander Nathan Wiles was also optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett, and the two open roster spots will be filled by infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. (called up from Gwinnett) and southpaw Joey Wentz (claimed off waivers yesterday from the Twins).

Riley was in the starting lineup for yesterday’s 6-5 Braves win over the Cardinals before his injury forced an early exit from the game in the fourth inning.  Manager Brian Snitker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chad Bishop that he thought Riley hurt himself while making an infield throw, and the team decided to make a precautionary removal since Riley was still feeling lingering soreness.

More should be known about the third baseman’s condition when Snitker meets with reporters today, though it may not be a great sign that Riley has been so quickly placed on the IL.  The fact that his injury was still termed as an abdomen strain rather than an oblique strain could be a plus, and with the All-Star break looming, the Braves may have decided to just give Riley the full 10 days off to perhaps minimize the amount of lost game time.

Missing any action is a relative rarity for Riley, who has played in 681 of a possible 741 games since the start of the 2021 season (including all 93 of Atlanta’s games this season).  Riley’s durability took a hit last season, as a fractured hand on August 18 ended up bringing his 2024 campaign to a premature close.

After delivering star-level performance during the 2021-23 seasons, Riley has been more ordinary over the last two years.  He has followed up his 116 wRC+ from 2024 with a 113 wRC+ in 408 plate appearances in 2025, with Riley hitting .274/.324/.441 with 14 home runs.  This relatively modest production has come despite a .356 BABIP and excellent hard-contact numbers, as Riley’s longtime issues at making contact and taking walks have only worsened this season.  His 6.1% walk rate is well below league average, and Riley’s 27.7% strikeout rate puts him in the eighth percentile of all batters.  Both metrics would represents new career lows over a full season, as Riley had a 5.4% walk rate and 36.4K% over 297 PA in his 2019 rookie season.

The injury comes at a particularly unfortunate time for Riley, as an .891 OPS over his last 50 PA indicated that he was starting to heat up.  His absence is also another blow to an underachieving Braves team that has struggled to a 41-52 record, and even if Riley does end up missing just a minimal amount of time, every game is critical as Atlanta slips further and further back in the playoff race.  The Braves certainly have the appearance of being deadline sellers, though recent reports indicate that the club is only looking to move rental players (if anyone) by July 31.

Riley is enough of a lineup fixture that Luke Williams’ six innings of fill-in duty yesterday marked the first time all season that a Braves player besides Riley had lined up at the hot corner.  Williams figures to get more of the work at third base while Riley is out, though Alvarez has a good deal of experience at the position in the minors.  This will be Alvarez’s first taste of MLB action in 2025, and he hasn’t seen much game time at all this year, as a wrist injury and an oblique strain have limited the infielder to just 13 Triple-A appearances.

Austin Riley Won’t Return In 2024

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The Braves announced that third baseman Austin Riley won’t return this year, neither in the regular season nor the postseason. A recent CT scan of his fractured hand showed that it hasn’t healed enough to take off his cast. At this point, there’s not enough time for him to heal and return to the club. David O’Brien of The Athletic was among those to relay word from manager Brian Snitker on X.

Riley suffered the injury August 18 when he was hit by a pitch on his hand. The following day, the club announced the fracture and that his timeline to return would be about six to eight weeks. There were only about six weeks left in the regular season at that moment, but there was still some hope of Riley being able to return for the postseason if the club played deep into October.

Unfortunately, his hand and the calendar have conspired against him and he won’t be able to help the club out this year, regardless of how long they stay alive without him. It’s an unfortunate development for Atlanta, as Riley has been one of their best players in recent years. From 2021 to the present, he’s hit 127 home runs and slashed .280/.348/.513 for a wRC+ 132. He scuffled at times in 2024 but still managed to hit 19 homers and slash .256/.322/.461 for a 116 wRC+ before suffering his injury.

This is just the latest in a string of injuries that have hamstrung the club all year. Spencer Strider required UCL surgery in April. Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a torn ACL in June. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II missed significant time due to injuries as well, though both are back now.

Those injuries have played a key role in the club having a disappointing year. Coming into 2024, they were considered one of the top teams in the majors but they are currently fighting for their lives. At 85-71, they are 1.5 games back of the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League, with the Mets also half a game ahead of the Snakes. Atlanta could still nab a spot, especially since they kick off a three-game set against the Mets tonight, but it’s not where they planned to be.

They will have to try to squeeze in to the playoffs without Riley and then proceed through the postseason without him as well. Gio Urshela was signed to cover for Riley at third and will presumably continue to do so. He has hit .270/.289/.423 for a wRC+ of 95 since joining the squad. Perhaps Whit Merrifield will factor in now that Albies is back at second, though Merrifield is playing through a left foot fracture.

Riley will still be a huge part of the club’s future, as he signed a ten-year, $212MM extension in August of 2022. That deal runs through 2032 and there’s a club option for 2033. Once his hand heals, he will presumably be in line for a fairly normal offseason in preparation for 2025.

MLBTR Podcast: Who Could Get Waived, Potential Rule Changes, Austin Riley, And Hector Neris

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will any players be placed on waivers before September 1 who could help? (35:15)
  • How much longer do the Tigers stick with Javier Báez and what holes will they be looking to fill in the offseason? (41:00)
  • If Pete Alonso walks in free agency, what will the Mets do at first base next year? (49:40)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Braves Sign Gio Urshela

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9:30am: The Braves formally announced the signing of Urshela. Riley has been placed on the 10-day IL to open a spot on the active roster, while lefty A.J. Minter — who underwent season-ending hip surgery recently — was moved to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot.

8:20am: The Braves and Urshela have agreed to a deal, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

7:50am: The Braves are nearing a major league deal with third baseman Gio Urshela, per a report from The New York Post’s Joel Sherman this morning. Urshela was recently designated for assignment and released by the Tigers, who’ll be on the hook for the remainder of his $1.5MM salary. The Braves will only owe Urshela the prorated league minimum for the time he spends on the big league roster or injured list. Urshela is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.

The news comes just one day after Braves third baseman Austin Riley was diagnosed with a hand fracture that is expected to sideline him for between six and eight weeks. If that timeline holds, it will leave him out of action for at least the remainder of the regular season and the early portions of the postseason, though it’s feasible he could return to the field if Atlanta makes a deep enough run into the playoffs.

With utilityman Whit Merrifield already covering for the injured Ozzie Albies at second base, that seemingly left the club to rely on top infield prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. and depth infielder Luke Williams to handle the hot corner down the stretch. With Urshela now in the fold, the club will add a veteran third baseman into the fold who could help raise the floor on their production at the position in Riley’s absence.

For Urshela, the deal represents an opportunity to get regular at-bats with a playoff contender down the stretch while also attempting to re-establish himself as a regular option following a disappointing stint in Detroit this year. Following a 2023 season where he was limited to just 62 games by a season-ending pelvic fracture, Urshela hit free agency and signed a one-year deal worth just $1.5MM with the Tigers back in February. At the time, it seemed to be a bargain for a player who had been a steady regular at third base for several years. It quickly turned sour, however, as Urshela delivered his worst season since establishing himself as a regular with the Yankees back in 2019.

The 32-year-old hit just .243/.286/.333 (73 wRC+) in 325 trips to the plate with the Tigers while splitting time between the infield corners. Defensive metrics are extremely mixed on Urshela’s defense at third, as the veteran has accumulated -17 Outs Above Average at the position since becoming a regular back in 2019. Brutal as that figure may seem, Defensive Runs Saved actually has Urshela as a plus defender at the hot corner over that same timeframe with a +4 figure overall. Still, even the most favorable views of Urshela’s defense leave it difficult to justify him as an everyday option if his hitting numbers remain where they were in Detroit.

Fortunately, there’s some reasons for optimism regarding the veteran’s future. His track record over the past half decade speaks for itself, as he entered the 2024 season as a solid .291/.335/.452 (115 wRC+) hitter since his 2019 breakout with New York. That’s the 16th-best figure among all qualified third baseman over that time frame. What’s more, Urshela’s .271 BABIP is by far the lowest of his career; he entered the 2024 season with a career .319 BABIP that had jumped to .334 since his breakout in 2019.

A return to form in that regard could help Urshela put up numbers closer to league average offensively. His batted ball data also suggests he’s in line for some positive regression. The 32-year-old’s .271 wOBA is a far cry from his .305 xwOBA, a figure that (while still below average) would put him roughly in line with his more palatable 2021 and 2023 seasons, where his offensive output was around 3% and 8% worse than league average (by wRC+). Even that level of production would make Urshela a solid fill-in at the hot corner for Atlanta, particularly if the club doesn’t want to push Alvarez into an everyday big league role in the middle of a pennant race at just 21 years old.

Austin Riley Diagnosed With Fractured Hand

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The Braves announced Monday that Austin Riley has been diagnosed with a fractured right hand that will sideline him for six to eight weeks. With just under six weeks remaining on the regular season schedule, it could very well prove to be a season-ending injury for the two-time All-Star. Riley was hit by a pitch in yesterday’s game, and while initial imaging was inconclusive, an MRI performed Monday revealed the fracture. Atlanta will presumably make a corresponding roster move to place Riley on the injured list and bring up another infielder (e.g. Nacho Alvarez Jr.).

Atlanta also announced that right-hander Reynaldo Lopez has been reinstated from the injured list, with right-hander Jimmy Herget being optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. He’s been out since Aug. 2 due to inflammation in his right forearm.

The loss of Riley is another crushing blow for a Braves club that has been hammered by major injuries all season. Even on Opening Day, Atlanta lost catcher Sean Murphy to an oblique strain that ultimately cost him about two months of the season. That set the tone for a 2024 campaign that has seen Spencer Strider (torn UCL and internal brace surgery), Ronald Acuna Jr. (torn ACL), Ozzie Albies (fractured wrist), A.J. Minter (hip surgery) and Michael Harris II (Grade 2 hamstring strain) all endure considerable, if not season-ending injuries.

Riley, 27, hasn’t been at his best all season but has, until now, been in the lineup nearly every day. He’s also picked up the pace considerably since a dreadful start to the season. Riley lugged an awful .228/.295/.353 slash into the month of June … and has since erupted with a .275/.339/.531 that falls right in line with his career averages. In a lineup that’s frequently been without some of its best hitters, he’s been a constant alongside designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. Now, it’s very possible that Riley’s 2024 season will draw to a close with 110 games played — although the specific wording of the team’s announcement leaves the door cracked for Riley to perhaps play a few games late in September if he heals more quickly than expected and the Braves are still in Wild Card contention.

In some ways, the fact that the Braves are even still in possession of a Wild Card spot is remarkable. Strider pitched in just two games and yielded seven runs in nine innings prior to landing on the shelf with what became a season-ending ligament injury. Acuna played in only 49 games. Acuna, Albies (90), Harris (72) and Murphy (50) have all played in fewer than 100 of the Braves’ 124 games this season.

While the Braves have had exceedingly poor injury luck, they’ve also had several things go right. Atlanta has improbably gotten not only a healthy season out of Chris Sale but a vintage, Cy Young-caliber showing out of the 35-year-old lefty, who’s thrown just 10 fewer innings this season than he did in the entire four-year period preceding the 2024 season. Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach has debuted and outpaced expectations. Reynaldo Lopez has improbably gone from reliever to Cy Young-caliber results himself.

Still, the loss of Riley is a gut-punch, particularly given how well he’d been hitting since the calendar flipped to June. The top of the Braves’ order will now need to rely on the aforementioned Ozuna, deadline pickup Jorge Soler and a trio of stars who’ve struggled through down seasons: Harris, Murphy and Matt Olson. Atlanta has gotten solid production out of some bargain-bin pickups like Ramon Laureano and Whit Merrifield, but the offense they’re trotting out on a nightly basis moving forward won’t resemble the powerhouse lineup they were expected to field this season.

Riley will likely be replaced by some combination of Alvarez and Luke Williams, neither of whom has looked comfortable against big league pitching this season. Alvarez, the organization’s top position-player prospect, still has just 38 games of Triple-A experience. He’s hit well there, but the 21-year-old went 3-for-30 in his first taste of the majors earlier in the summer and likely still needs some additional development time. He’d never played above A-ball prior to 2024. Williams is 2-for-17 in the majors this season. The 28-year-old journeyman has seen action in parts of four big league campaigns and is a .218/.277/.284 hitter in 283 trips to the plate.

At seven games back and now down another star player, Atlanta doesn’t have much of a path to overtaking the Phillies for the NL East crown. The Braves currently hold the final NL Wild Card spot but are only two games up on the division-rival Mets and four games up on the Giants. The Cardinals, Cubs and Reds are all within six games of that final postseason slot as well.

Braves Notes: Riley, Lopez

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Initial x-rays and a CT scan on Austin Riley’s right wrist and hand were “inconclusive” after the third baseman was hit by a Jack Kochanowicz pitch in today’s game with the Angels, Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution).  Riley will undergo an MRI tomorrow during the Braves’ off-day, as Snitker said the team’s own medical staff wants to fully explore Riley’s status.

It could be viewed as an ominous sign that the first set of tests didn’t definitively say whether or not Riley had suffered a break or a fracture, but it also stands to reason that the club would want to be as careful as possible with one of its star players.  Since we’re in the middle of August, a more serious type of injury could end Riley’s season entirely, including both the regular season and whatever postseason run the Braves might yet enjoy.

Just getting to the playoffs has been a lot more difficult than expected for Atlanta, as injuries and an unexpectedly average offense have contributed to a lot of inconsistency.  The Braves are still 66-58 and in possession of the final NL wild card slot, but they hold only a two-game lead over the Mets for that wild card berth, and the Phillies remain seven games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East race.  After bursting out of the gates to an 18-6 record in their first 24 games, the Braves have since posted a sub-.500 record (48-52) while weathering season-ending injuries to such stars as Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider.  The rest of Ozzie Albies’ 2024 campaign is also in jeopardy due to a fractured wrist, and both Jorge Soler and Travis d’Arnaud have been out of the lineup in recent days.

Riley also missed close to two weeks earlier this season due to an intercostal strain, though the Braves made the curious decision to not actually place him on the 10-day IL during that stretch, leaving the team short-handed for an extended period of time.  The injury contributed to a very slow start to the season for Riley, but his bat has come to life as the season has gone on, with 16 home runs and .275/.337/.531 slash line over his last 285 plate appearances.

Obviously there’s no easy way for the Braves to replace such All-Star levels of production if Riley is facing a lengthy IL stint, and it’ll be even trickier to fill Riley’s spot at third base now that the trade deadline has passed.  Luke Williams took over at the hot corner today, and such veterans as Leury Garcia and Zack Short are at Triple-A as additional depth.

As uncertain as Riley’s situation may be, some injury relief is on the horizon for the rotation, as Reynaldo Lopez was announced as the starter for Atlanta’s game on Tuesday, when the Braves start an important series against the Phillies.  Lopez will return after missing just slightly beyond the 15-day minimum after he was placed on the IL due to forearm inflammation on August 2.

Lopez’s start on July 28 was cut short by his injury, but tests revealed no structural damage.  While even less-serious types of forearm problems can linger, Lopez looks like he has been able to recover in pretty short order, and he got up to 71 pitches in a Triple-A rehab outing last Tuesday.

Signed to a three-year, $30MM free agent deal last winter, Lopez has excelled in his return to starting pitching.  Though he has worked almost exclusively as a reliever during the 2022-23 seasons with the White Sox, Angels, and Guardians, Lopez has posted a 2.06 ERA over 104 2/3 innings for Atlanta this season.  Between Lopez, Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale, and solid performances from Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and rookie Spencer Schwellenbach, the Braves have limited the damage after Strider was lost for the year.

Braves Notes: Riley, D’Arnaud, Murphy

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Braves third baseman Austin Riley hasn’t taken the field for the club since Sunday’s game against the Mets due to what was described as left side tightness at the time. While he’s spent nearly a week out of commission at this point, he may still be days away from returning to the lineup. The 27-year-old told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that he has yet to resume swinging a bat since he first suffered the injury, which he added that the Braves’ medical staff later termed intercostal inflammation. Per Toscano, Riley did not commit to returning to the starting lineup in time for the opening game of the club’s three-game set against the Cubs in Chicago, which begins on Tuesday.

Should Riley miss Tuesday’s game, he’ll have been out of commission for nine days at that point. Such a lengthy absence would make the club’s decision not to put the slugger on the injured list, which comes with a minimum stay of ten days, a strange one. Even so, Riley indicated that the club has not discussed the possibility of an IL trip with him. IL trips can only be backdated a maximum of three days, meaning that Riley would have to miss at least a week from the day he’s placed on the shelf before he can return.

Manager Brian Snitker also addressed Riley’s absence with reporters today, telling David O’Brien of The Athletic that the club will have to consider a trip to the shelf for Riley if the soreness he’s feeling doesn’t improve in the coming days. O’Brien added that, per Snitker, the club’s hesitance to place Riley on the shelf to this point stems in part from a lack of strong candidates to replace Riley on the roster in the upper levels of the organization. The only position players currently on the 40-man at Triple-A are outfielders Forrest Wall and J.P. Martinez.

While the club turned to utilityman David Fletcher earlier this season to fill in on the bench, Fletcher is no longer on the 40-man roster and is dealing with off-the-field issues regarding reported illegal bets placed on sports other than baseball during his time in Anaheim. That could leave veteran utilityman Leury Garcia as the club’s best option to fill in for Riley should he end up heading for the injured list. Garcia struggled to a brutal .210/.233/.267 slash line in his last taste of big league action back in 2022, when he appeared in 97 games for the White Sox. Despite those abysmal numbers, Garcia has seen some success at Triple-A with the Braves this year, posting a solid 113 wRC+ in 116 trips to the plate.

Adding to the club’s injury woes is the absence of catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who exited yesterday’s game against the Padres due to dizziness after a foul ball struck his face mask. Braves fans received some good news regarding the veteran catcher today, however, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman relayed that the 35-year-old is feeling much better today, even as he’s been held out of the starting lineup for tonight’s game. Bowman added that d’Arnaud is available to be used on an emergency basis over the next two days and that, as long as d’Arnaud’s improvement continues, he could return to the lineup for the series finale against San Diego on Monday. In the meantime, the Braves will lean on Chadwick Tromp to cover for d’Arnaud behind the plate.

After being demoted to the role of a backup in deference to Sean Murphy last year, d’Arnaud has resumed regular catching duties for Atlanta this season since Sean Murphy was placed on the injured list with an oblique strain just one game into the 2024 campaign. He’s made the most of the additional playing time to this point, hitting an excellent .255/.336/.500 with five home runs in 116 trips to the plate. That being said, it seems as though Murphy could be nearing a return to action in Atlanta in the near future. MLB.com’s Injury Tracker notes that the Braves are currently planning for Murphy has looked good in offensive and defensive drills during his recovery and is set to begin a rehab assignment during this upcoming week. Widely regarded as among the top catchers in baseball on both sides of the ball, the return of Murphy figures to offer a huge boost to the Braves as they head into the summer 3.5 games behind the Phillies for the NL East crown despite a strong 26-15 record.

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