Another day, another injury: Braves star Austin Riley removed after scary HBP

The Atlanta Braves have been one of the more injured teams in the league this year and their luck is just continuing to get worse and worse.

As they try to secure the third wild card spot in the National League, they're doing so without multiple All-Star level players.

During Sunday's game with the Angels, they added another All-Star to their list of players with injury scares.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason

Austin Riley removed from Braves game after HBP on hand

Austin Riley, the Braves third baseman, was drilled on the hand by a first-inning fastball against the Angels. 97 mph right off the hand. Riley would run the bases before being pulled after the inning.

He was in obvious pain, but the Braves franchise may be in even more pain if Riley is forced to miss any extended time. The best case scenario is that they can get the swelling under control, the imaging comes back negative and Riley slots back into the lineup in a day or two.

The worst-case scenario results with Riley on the injured list, missing weeks of action. At this point in the season, it could cost him the rest of the year and force the Braves to find another bat, if his hand happens to be broken.

This is just the worst-case scenario for a Braves team that's on the cusp of a playoff spot. They're going to need Riley if they want any chance of competing in the postseason.

This season, Riley recorded a .256 batting average, a .322 on-base percentage, a .461 slugging percentage, 19 home runs, 56 RBI, 63 runs, and 109 hits in 425 at-bats (110 games).

For now, all the Braves can do is wait and see what the test results say for Riley's hand. For them, they can hope there was no serious damage.