If the Atlanta Braves make the playoffs, Austin Riley will be sidelined due to a broken right hand.
A CT scan on Monday indicated that the slugging third baseman’s injury had not healed fully. “It just wasn’t healing enough to think that he could come back this year,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said on Tuesday. Riley was struck with a 97-mph fastball from Jack Kochanowicz of the Los Angeles Angels on August 18. Riley was expected to miss the rest of the regular season, but there was hope that if the Braves advanced far enough in the playoffs, he could return.
“He’s still in a cast, so realistically, it was going to be pretty tough for him,” she said. “We’d have to go deep into the playoffs. It’s not where the doctors expected it to be.
The Braves were 1 1/2 games behind Arizona for the third NL wild card slot heading into the final week. Riley had 19 home runs, 56 RBIs, and a.256 batting average in 110 games after hitting 37 homers and driving in 97 runs the previous season. The two-time All-Star has averaged 159 games over the previous three seasons.
Riley should be fully recovered by spring training, according to Snitker.
Gio Urshela, a third baseman who was waived by the Tigers on the day Riley was injured, was signed by the Braves and has hit.270 with three home runs in 30 games for Atlanta.
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