The Atlanta Braves would surely be one of baseball’s most talented teams if they can manage to stay healthy. An avalanche of injuries wiped out their World Series aspirations last season and now it’s threatening to resume in 2025. All-Star third baseman Austin Riley became the latest victim of the injury bug when he was forced to leave a spring training game after being hit by a pitch.
Fortunately, Riley seems to have avoided a serious setback. A day after he was hit on the right hand in a Grapefruit League game against the Washington Nationals, Riley took batting practice and felt great afterwards, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The HBP should only keep him out a couple days, meaning he’s expected to be good to go for Opening Day.
Can Austin Riley and the Braves avoid another injury epidemic?
Riley’s injury scare felt particularly alarming to Braves fans as the sixth-year veteran was hit in the same hand last season, which resulted in a fracture that ended his season in August. The injury limited Riley to 110 games in 2024 and it stopped his three-year streak of hitting 33 or more home runs a season.
In addition to Riley, Jurickson Profar had an injury scare this spring when he jammed his wrist while trying to make a catch in the outfield. Atlanta’s catcher Sean Murphy suffered a cracked rib that will keep him out at least a month. And then Murphy’s replacement, Drake Baldwin was scratched from a spring training game with an ailment.
Fortunately for the Braves, Profar, who was the club’s big offseason acquisition, is expected to be ready by Opening Day. Meanwhile Baldwin experienced an allergic reaction and has already returned to the lineup.
Of course, the team is still missing two key players who were lost for the season early in 2024 as Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider remain sidelined. However, the Braves expect both back relatively early in 2025. Strider should be ready to take the mound in late April while Acuña should rejoin the team in May.
Manager Brian Snitker views their return as making two really good trades since the Braves will add a former MVP and a Cy Young-caliber pitcher to the roster mid-season. Assuming the team can stay healthy, the infusion of talent should help Atlanta compete in the NL East with the reigning division champs, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the new look New York Mets, who added Juan Soto in free agency.
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