Originally penciled into the Braves’ lineup Friday, shortstop Dansby Swanson was erased about an hour before the spring game here against Toronto. The team said it was precautionary, addressing soreness in the left wrist on which Swanson had surgery this offseason.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Swanson began experiencing some soreness during a pregame hitting drill.
“We’ll wait another couple days, I guess,” Snitker said.
“I think it’s going to be sore and he’s going to have some of that as he amps up the workload,” the manager said. “The biggest thing is to get him in the game, get him some game at-bats so he can kind of work through all that.”
Friday was to be a big debut day for the left side of the Braves’ infield, as new acquisition Josh Donaldson had been scheduled to start his first spring game at third base as well. But just before Friday, the team pulled the plug on that, citing an abundance of caution.
The former American League MVP, who missed roughly three months of the 2018 season with a calf injury, will be eased carefully back into the routine. No use yet to risk a $23 million investment.
“In talking to the training staff, we just want to make sure he’s doing all the live (batting practices). He’s doing all the training. They felt a little more wasn’t going to hurt,” Snitker said.
“He’s going to have plenty of time. Everything’s going good. They’ll tell me when,” Snitker said of the training staff, “and we’ll put him in there.”
The manager likened the delay to a small mechanical adjustment.
“It’s like that nut you tighten - you tighten it a little bit more when you’re done,” Snitker said. “We’re just tightening the nut a little bit more.”
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