SAN FRANCISCO – The Braves on Monday placed A.J. Minter on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation – the same designation they used when he landed on the injured list in late May. And for Aaron Bummer, who shares a bullpen with Minter, there’s only one way to feel about this.
“I mean, it just kind of sucks,” Bummer said. “The guy’s been a warrior. …He’s a guy that’s willing to take the ball every day, and he takes pride in being able to take to ball every day. So just for him to reach a point where it’s not happening, that’s tough. We talked a little bit and I don’t know necessarily what’s in store, but with his future, you want the best for a guy like that. That guy poured his heart and soul out for this organization. You want him to fix that thing so he can come back and help us out.”
The Braves recalled Dylan Lee, another left-handed reliever, to take Minter’s spot on the roster.
The Braves aren’t yet sure whether Minter will pitch again this season. He traveled to San Francisco with the team on Sunday night, but flew back to Atlanta on Monday for further evaluation.
This will tell the Braves about Minter’s next step. But because he’s in his free-agent season, the possibility exists that he’s thrown his final pitch as a member of the Braves. Atlanta will know specifics after Minter undergoes testing.
On Monday evening at Oracle Park, Braves manager Brian Snitker said this is the same injury Minter dealt with earlier in the season.
At that time, Minter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was dealing with a left hip impingement. He missed a month and a few days, returning July 3.
On Sunday, Minter threw a scoreless inning in the loss to the Rockies. He gave up two hits and struck out a batter. Two days before that, he surrendered the go-ahead run in a loss at Coors Field.
This season, Minter hasn’t thrown his four-seam fastball as hard. He’s averaged 94.5 mph with the pitch, as opposed to 95.8 mph last season and 96.6 mph in 2022.
But since returning from the first injury, Minter had pitched well. He allowed three earned runs over 13 innings — and was scored on in two of 14 appearances over that span — before hitting the injured list again.
“Him and himself, he wasn’t happy with the stuff that was coming out,” Bummer said. “But guess what? His stuff was still good enough to go out there and get anybody out in baseball. For him to be able to go out there – me sitting in the bullpen, I knew that he wasn’t 100 percent. You can look at the (velocity) and things like that, and know that he wasn’t able to compete with the stuff that he wanted to, but the dog that’s inside of him still got out there and got the outs. He got the big outs that he needed, and it’s a huge blow. It’s a huge blow. It’s an unfortunate part of the game for sure.”
In June, Minter told The AJC that he didn’t know how long he’d dealt with the left hip impingement before he went on the injured list in May.
“Obviously, the velocity has been down a little bit this year,” Minter said at the time. “I was trying to tell the trainers, ‘I just can’t use my legs real well.’ They looked at it and did all the tests they do, and I was getting a little bit of irritation with any external rotation in my hip.”
He also said this about his left hip impingement: “It’s kind of hard to throw when you can’t use your legs the way you want to.”
The Braves recently optioned Lee when they reinstated Max Fried from the injured list. Lee is Atlanta’s only optionable reliever, which has made him the chess piece in those situations.
But now he’s back. And he should be a nice replacement for Minter. Lee, also a lefty, had a 2.00 ERA in 45 major-league innings entering Monday.
Minter’s injury is another blow to a Braves team that has probably become accustomed to this. In 2024, bad news is always around the corner.
First the Braves lost Spencer Strider for the season. Then Ronald Acuña Jr. tore his ACL and had season-ending surgery. Around those two, many others have suffered injuries and missed time.
Minter is someone who always stopped by Snitker’s office and voiced his desire to pitch that day.
“He’s been a high-leverage, go-to guy for a long time now,” Snitker said. “That hurts losing (a guy like that). You can’t go out and find that right now.”
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