Austin Riley’s season is over, Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
On Monday, Riley underwent a CT scan to evaluate the healing of his right hand fracture and to determine whether doctors could remove his cast. The scan showed that there was not enough healing for Riley to return this season – even if the Braves make the postseason.
“It just wasn’t healing well enough to think that he could come back this year,” Snitker said.
This is another blow to the Braves, who held out hope that Riley might be available in the postseason – if they make it there. In Miami over the weekend, Riley seemed optimistic about his right hand and said he hoped to return in the playoffs.
That won’t happen, which is a bummer for him and the club.
“Well, that’s probably how he felt in the cast,” Snitker said. “But until they look at it – because I think that’s what they were looking at, is where it was right now. So, it’s not where the doctors wanted it to be.”
In August, Riley was hit by a 97-mph sinker from the Angels’ Jack Kochanowicz. He suffered a fracture to the base of the hamate bone in his right hand.
The Riley news provides a clearer picture about a potential postseason lineup. Over the past month, the Braves and their fans had hoped to have Ozzie Albies and Riley back in October. It seemed like the team might receive a boost with both of them in the lineup, even if no one could predict how Riley might perform when coming back from a fractured right hand.
Albies returned in Miami. But that’ll be it in terms of reinforcements. If the Braves make the postseason, Gio Urshela likely will be their starting third baseman.
The Braves won’t have Riley, Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider or A.J. Minter. All are out for the season, which is brutal bad luck for a team that entered spring training with World Series aspirations.
The expectation is that Riley will be fully healthy entering spring training 2025.
“I don’t think (the doctors) foresee anything else right now,” Snitker said. “That’s the hope, is that he comes to spring training and has just gotta get his season started. I know he’ll probably be the first guy there, after this. But yeah, hate it for him.”
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