Last night, during the Braves and Astros game, Ozzie Albies was hit in the foot with a pitch. He appeared to be in a great deal of pain, wincing at first base when trying to walk it off. He stayed in for the remainder of the game but cameras caught him using something on top of his cleat to ease the pain.
The team wanted to wait until the morning to decide how to proceed forward with Albies. He was seen limping after the game and had it examined by training staff. Well turns out the fears of injury were confirmed this afternoon.
The #Braves today selected the contract of INF David Fletcher, and placed INF Ozzie Albies on the 10-day injured list with a right great toe fracture.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 16, 2024
Not long ago, the Braves announced Ozzie Albies had been placed on the 10-day injured list with a fracture in his right big toe. He often deals with getting hit in the feet thanks to his open stance. It doesn't give him a lot of room to work with on pitches in the dirt.
It stinks to lose Albies as he was off to a great start with a .317 average with two homers, 14 RBI, and an .878 OPS this year. He's landed on the IL during four of the last five seasons which is a shame.
Atlanta has dealt with an injury every two weeks at this point and it's becoming a bit frustrating. They lost Sean Murphy to the IL after two games. Spencer Strider goes down with a UCL injury after two starts and now this. It's not something any team likes to deal with but this is why Atlanta made sure to have plenty of depth.
Here is the HBP that fractured Albies' right big toe in last night's second inning. He played the rest of the game. This shouldn't be a lengthy injured list stint. pic.twitter.com/xZiAZ73puJ
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 16, 2024
After making the roster move with Albies the Braves announced they had recalled former Angels fan-favorite infielder David Fletcher from Gwinnett. Fletcher was acquired in a trade during the offseason in a package that sent Evan White and Tyler Thomas to the Angels in return.
Fletcher had a very good spring with the Braves. He carried a .324 batting average with 12 hits including one double, three RBI, three walks, three strikeouts, and three stolen bases. He started the year in Triple-A to keep getting consistent at-bats in the event he was needed for a moment like this.
Currently, he has a slash line of .280/.383/.320 and a .703 OPS through 13 games played. This includes 14 hits with two doubles, seven RBI, nine walks, five strikeouts, and two stolen bases. He is doing an excellent job getting on base as the walks indicate. The slugging percentage is a bit low but the Braves aren't expecting power out of him as he's more of a contact bat.
He plays sound defense and will be a good replacement in the meantime. Fletcher will most likely split time with Luis Guillorme to fill the void created by Albies. This also allows Atlanta to retain their great bench depth.