Adam Duvall suffers season ending injury
A sprained wrist sustained on Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels will require surgery and spells the end of the Atlanta Braves outfielder’s season
In the first inning of Sunday’s Los Angeles Angels game, Atlanta Braves left fielder Adam Duvall jammed his wrist into the wall as he chased down a Shohei Ohtani foul ball. Duvall had an at-bat and another outing in the second before being replaced in the third inning by Guillermo Heredia.
The Braves outfielder was placed on the injured list and it now transpires that his wrist, thought at first to be sprained, will actually require surgery, spelling the end of his season. Duvall had been splitting playing time with Eddie Rosario and was hitting .213 with a .677 OPS and 12 home runs.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the play, “I think his glove caught, and that’s a big man to put pressure on there.”
Eddie Rosario spent the bulk of the season so far out with an eye injury. Since his return, he has split time in left field with Duvall. It would seem that Rosario would get the starting nod in left although Heredia was given the job when facing a lefty.
The Braves are sitting only a game behind the Mets and if they can win the division, they will have overcome their largest ever come-from-behind deficit, given that they came into June 10.5 games adrift. Brian Snitker is keenly aware of the position that they are in, saying, “This is the time of year where the games are all big.”
Last season, injuries to outfielders caused the Braves to make some bold trade-deadline moves, notably picking up Joc Pederson from the Dodgers. It was the catalyst that they needed to turn their season around and push them into the unlikeliest of World Series titles. Perhaps they can repeat the trick, and with the deadline only just over a week away, I wouldn’t rule anyone out.