The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Unbroken, unwavering, Freeman back in lineup
Big sigh of relief for Braves: no fracture found in left wrist.
Before he left SunTrust Park late Wednesday, Braves slugger Freddie Freeman told team officials that as long as his left wrist wasn’t broken, he was going to play Thursday.
He was in the lineup Thursday.
The Braves, their fans and their best player all breathed a sigh of relief after X-rays and other tests showed no fracture in Freeman’s wrist from the pitch that hit him in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 7-3 win against the Phillies.
“This is the best news I could have gotten today,” Freeman said a few hours before a series opener against the Mets. “X-rays came back negative. All is well with the bone.
“I told (general manager) Alex (Anthopoulos) and (assistant GM) Perry (Minasian) and everybody last night, I said if it’s not broken I’m playing today. And it’s not broken, so I’m in there.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker, when asked if he had any hesitancy in putting Freeman back in the lineup the next day, looked at the questioner and said, “Hell, no.”
The pitch from Phillies left-hander Hoby Milner hit Freeman in almost the exact spot where a fastball from Blue Jays lefty Aaron Loup hit him 11 months ago in the 37th game of the 2017 season, breaking a small carpal bone (pisiform) and landing Freeman on the disabled list for seven weeks.
At the time of that incident, Freem an led the National League in homers (14), was second in on-base (.461) and slugging percentage (.748), and was sixth in batting average (.341). The only Brave in the Atlanta era to hit more homers to that point of a season was Hank Aaron.
This year, the Braves are off to a better start (10-7) and haven’t been quite as heavily reliant upon Freeman as they have in previous seasons.
But make no mistake, he’s the most important player on the team and everyone knows it.
When he got hit, a hush came over the crowd at SunTrust Park, and the air seemed to be sucked out of the place as Freeman gave a look of pain and frustration, then almost immediately walked off the field and up a dugout hallway, not waiting to be examined by the trainer.
“Because it missed my pisiform bone by about a half an inch,” Freeman said. “So I knew it was really close to that area, and it was throbbing last night, so I just went and walked right up to the X-ray room. That was (the reason for) my first reaction. ...
“It was pretty painful, still is pretty painful. But I just knew it was very closer to the similar location as last year, so … we were winning and it was the eighth inning. I kind of paused at home plate and then just said, well, I’ll just take this in and get it checked out, get some ice on it as fast as I can.”
Braves would like to retain Adams
The Braves designated outfielder and pinch-hitter extraordinaire Lane Adams for assignment Thursday to make room on the active roster for starter Matt Wisler.
Anibal Sanchez strained his hamstring Wednesday, requiring the Braves to call on a spot-starter to fill his spot.
Adams, 28, was out of options and is subject to waivers. If he clears waivers, the Braves can outright him to Triple-A Gwinnett. If the Braves retain him, he would need to be added to 40-man roster before they could promote him again.
“He’s done a great job here,” Snitker said. “Hopefully everything really works out so we can keep him. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just one of those moves we had to make. He’ll be fine.”