Tyler Flowers rehabilitated and re-strengthened his body over the winter following October surgery on his left wrist and forearm, then worked extra on the back fields in the final week of spring training after missing some time for a groin strain. Scarred but undeterred, the veteran Braves catcher was ready Thursday for opening day.
He didn’t make it through his first at-bat.
Flowers pulled his left oblique muscle on a swing in the second inning, left the game and was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday. It’s not known how long he’ll be out, but it seems likely to be significantly longer than 10 days.
“I knew it was something serious,” said Flowers, 32, who never had an oblique injury before Tuesday. “I’ve had teammates over the years try and rush it and get back, and they end up dealing with it for an entire season. So I definitely don’t plan on doing that. I think we’ll be as aggressive as we can be, but I don’t want this to turn into multiple months when it could be something significantly shorter if we kind of take our time throughout the process.”
The Braves already had veteran backup catcher Chris Stewart on the roster as a third catcher to begin the season, now he’ll just stay on the roster and serve as backup to Kurt Suzuki, who’ll handle the bulk of the duties while his usual platoon partner Flowers is on the DL.
The Braves had planned to keep Stewart on the major league roster only until they needed a fifth starting pitcher in the second week but he’ll stay now at least until Flowers returns.
The Braves filled the 25-man roster spot by purchasing the contract of right-handed reliever Miguel Socolovich from Triple-A Gwinnett. They created a spot for Socolovich on the 40-man roster by placing reliever Jacob Lindgren, who had Tommy John elbow surgery this week, on the 60-day DL.
“It’s a bummer. It’s just one of them freak things,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who said there’s no timetable for Flowers’ return, but confirmed that oblique strains sometimes require a month or more on the DL and said the team would be careful not to rush Flowers.
“It’s going to be a while. It’s going to take a while for it to calm down. He’s going to probably be a couple weeks without doing anything. They’re freaky things, and they say everybody’s kind of different.”
Snitker was told by the medical staff that the degree of Flowers’ strain wasn’t the worst, but that it was bad.
“It popped,” Snitker said. “I don’t know the grade, not the highest, but not the lowest either. ... He wanted to (finish) the at-bat, too. Said, ‘First at-bat of the year.’ I said, ‘No, you’re not going to. You swing it again you really mess it up. He already did mess it up bad.”
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos signed Stewart to a major league contract at the beginning of spring training, which surprised many observers, considering the Braves returned one of the most productive catching tandems of 2017 in Flowers and Suzuki.
Anthopoulos said at the time that it was for depth only, that Flowers and Suzuki weren’t going anywhere, but that the Braves wanted to make sure they had quality depth behind the plate with so many quality young pitchers in the organization.
When the Braves got through spring training without any serious injury to either Flowers or Suzuki, they debated whether to keep Stewart on the major league roster to start the season or let him go, since he couldn’t be sent to the minors without his consent and without going through waivers. They kept him and are glad they did.
“Yeah, Alex looks like a genius right now,” Flowers said. “Yeah, I mean it could be worse, for me and for the team. It could be a much different situation, I think this is the most ideal you can be, considering everything.”
Flowers said the injury occurred on his first swing of the at-bat, when he swung and missed a 93-mph fastball from Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola. He winced, but didn’t signal to the dugout or otherwise indicate he was injured.
“Having never had it before I was hopeful that it was something different,” he said. “There was discomfort, pain, intense burn. I don’t know what I was hoping for, I was just hoping for something different.”
So he decided he wou;d finish the at-bat. But on the next pitch he checked his swing and the pain worsened. This time it was obvious, and Snitker and a team trainer went to home plate and talked with Flowers briefly before they all headed to the dugout.
“I knew it was there, I was just trying to get one at-bat under my belt, which Snit ruined,” Flowers said, then laughed.
He managed to maintain his dry sense of humor, but Flowers didn’t try to act like it wasn’t disappointing or frustrating to get hurt in the first game of the season. The Roswell native and Milton resident is in the option year of his contract with the Braves, which they picked up after the burly catcher known for his outstanding pitch-framing skills enjoyed his most productive offensive seasons.
“And to go through all spring and develop those relationships (with pitchers), working together and all the time you spend together down there to prepare for that game and everything – yeah, it’s tough,” Flowers said.
“Having good success with Julio (Teheran) and him feeling well throughout spring and throwing the ball very well, I was definitely looking forward to being a part of that for him, opening day and beyond. But now just be patient, work hard and try and get back.”
Flowers hit 12 home runs and posted career-bests in batting average (.281), on-base percentage (.378) and slugging percentage (.445) in 2017. He was also hit pitches 20 times in 370 plate appearances, the third-most HBPs in the majors and only four behind leader Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, who had 321 more plate appearances than Flowers.
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