The Atlanta Braves are a team in transition, and their starting pitching surprise is now out with a freak injury.
The Atlanta Braves are a young club getting their experience. Although, one veteran in Anibal Sanchez has been a nice surprise. In 14 innings, the righty has tossed a 1.29 ERA. The club only picked up the veteran on a one-year, $1 million gamble this offseason. Also, Sanchez ran in the outfield but then fell down and didn’t get up for several minutes.
With that said, the Braves are losing a valuable arm who can eat innings. It’s not clear on how much time he will miss yet, but it is still not a good look. Furthermore, he has had a decent injury history. For Atlanta, the club may dip into the system to fill the void. The club has plenty of arms to choose from in that department, including Kyle Wright or Max Fried.
Anibal Sanchez was injured while running in the outfield. He has not moved the past few minutes. The Braves trainers are now with him. pic.twitter.com/OPnxL1ZzAN
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 18, 2018
The Braves are a youthful group, and there is the huge buzz around top stud Ronald Acuna. At the moment, righty Sanchez looked great and was a subtle addition to this young core. It will be interesting to see who fills in his spot in the rotation. Overall, the club will miss Sanchez on the mound for a little bit. The club will fit him in when he gets healthy again. The club should get him back in good time.
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The righty was off to a good start, so hopefully, he continues that when he comes back. The Braves are still a year away, but it is still nice to see a good story. Ultimately, Atlanta will get time to experiment with it’s younger players. It will be a boost to the pitching staff when Sanchez returns. The club should be fine without him for a week or two.