The Atlanta Braves have had their depth tested by injures, but things are looking up for Brian Snitker’s crew.
Ozzie Albies hasn’t played since sustaining a foot injury on June 13. He started playing catch earlier in the month, and Alex Anthopoulos said to The Athletic in July that a mid-to-late August return was being eyed for him.
What that timeline looks like now isn’t entirely clear, but Snitker told “The Steakhouse” on 92.9 The Game that the second baseman is progressing well.
"Ozzie is making some progress, he started to amp up his workouts," Snitker said. "He's jogging a little bit, he's hitting, so things are getting better. It's just the natural progression there, but he's healing and doing everything, hasn't had any setbacks and everything is going great in his rehab."
Like Albies, Mike Soroka is on the 60-day injured list. Things are trending in the right direction for the 25-year-old, who hasn’t pitched since 2020 due to Achilles injuries.
He’s off to High-A Rome to begin a rehab assignment, a key step in his eventual return to the Braves rotation.
“Yep, he’s going to start his rehab, which is a good thing," Snitker said. "We’ve been waiting for him to get out, and he’s progressed to that point. Once we get him on a rehab like that, you get a better handle on where everything is.”
Though Soroka probably is a ways off still from returning to the rotation, Max Fried figures to be back in action in the not-too-distant future.
On the seven-day concussion injured list since last Monday, Fried could be back later this week.
“He’s getting a lot better," Snitker said. "We’re expecting him to pitch at the end of the week, so things are going in the right direction with Max. He had a really good bullpen the other day in Miami, felt great, and we think by the end of the week he should be really good to go.”
William Contreras has been holding things down behind the plate with Travis d’Arnaud out with a lower-leg injury. He’s been day-to-day since last week, but will, as expected, avoid any time on the IL.
“He’ll be in there tonight," Snitker said. "It was good that we didn’t have to IL him. He progressed these last two days, he ran the bases, did baseball stuff. I look back on both the plays – he had two plays at the plate that night in New York – and I think we dodged a bullet on both of them. So, we should get him back going today.”
And, for good measure, Snitker further downplayed any sort of concern surrounding Ronald Acuña Jr., who was removed as a precaution in Saturday night’s game due to knee soreness.
“Yep, he’ll be back. He was just sore," Snitker said. "You know what, he actually played a lot more in the field than we anticipated going in there. We didn’t know if he’d play one game because of the turf, he kept feeling good, kept wanting to play. Yesterday he was around, he was available and felt better, so he’ll be fine.”
The Braves sit 5.5 games behind the Mets in the standings as they begin a four-game series against New York at Truist Park. They should have d’Arnaud and Acuna for those games, and can rest assured that further reinforcements appear to be on the way.
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