One of the Braves’ worst fears was realized today after Travis d’Arnaud left yesterday’s game with a thumb injury. He was diagnosed with a left thumb sprain, which doesn’t sound too terrible on the surface, but it has forced the team to put him on the 60-day IL. And to make matters even worse, Alex Jackson is also hitting the IL with a hamstring injury.
The #Braves today recalled William Contreras to Atlanta & selected the contract of Jeff Mathis. To make room on the active roster, the club placed Travis d’Arnaud on the 60-day IL with a left thumb sprain & placed Alex Jackson on the 10-day IL with a strained left hamstring.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 2, 2021
As the tweet states, William Contreras and Jeff Mathis will be taking their places on the active roster.
This is a bit of a worst nightmare for the Braves. The entire offseason, I was advocating for Alex Anthopoulos to bring back Tyler Flowers, and that’s not because I’m Flowers’ biggest fan, but re-signing him was more of a necessity than anything. He wouldn’t have cost much and was a more than capable backup. Travis d’Arnaud also has a history of injury problems over his career.
Instead, the Braves decided to roll the dice and thrust Alex Jackson into the majors, who has been miserable this season, hitting to the tune of a .043 average. So, losing him isn’t really much of a loss, but it doesn’t give Atlanta any brighter of an outlook at the position.
William Contreras looked promising in a brief stint with the Braves last year but has still yet to log an at-bat in AAA. Expecting him to carry the load would be foolish, to say the least. Mathis is a career backup with 16 years of experience, failing to hit over the Mendoza Line for his career. Thankfully, Flowers is still a free agent, and it would behoove the Braves to bring him back if he still is looking to play.
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