Braves’ Riley hasn’t healed, won’t return in ’24
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Austin Riley‘s broken right hand has not healed sufficiently enough for the Atlanta Braves third baseman to return this season, including the playoffs, manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday.
Snitker said a CT scan revealed that it was too early to remove Riley’s cast. The 27-year-old two-time All-Star was struck in the hand by a 97 mph fastball from Los Angeles Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz on Aug. 18.
“It just wasn’t healing enough to think that he could come back this year,” Snitker said. “He’s still in a cast, so realistically, it was going to be pretty tough for him. We’d have to go pretty deep in the playoffs. It is not where the doctors wanted it to be.”
Snitker said Riley is expected to be fully healed before spring training.
The Braves (85-71) are 1½ games out of the final National League wild-card slot entering Tuesday’s game with the visiting New York Mets.
Riley batted .256 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs in 110 games this season. In six seasons with the Braves, Riley has 153 homers and 429 RBIs while batting .272.
Third baseman Gio Urshela, who was waived by the Detroit Tigers on the day Riley was injured, was signed by the Braves and has hit .270 with three homers in 30 games for Atlanta.
Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
