WASHINGTON – Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia is expected to miss two months after surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left ring finger, which means rookie Rio Ruiz is likely to get an extended opportunity to show what he’s capable of doing with regular playing time.
“It’s unfortunate for that to happen and we wish him a really quick recovery and hope that he’s back on the field real soon,” Ruiz said Wednesday afternoon, shortly after hearing the news of Garcia’s surgery. “In the meantime we’ve just got some ball to play, and just go out there and try to win every day.”
Ruiz hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday that gave the Braves a lead against the Nationals, who answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning on the way to a 10-5 win over Atlanta at Nationals Park. He had a .209 average (14-for-67) with three doubles, two homers, eight RBIs and a .655 OPS in 25 games before Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals.
While Ruiz, 23, is likely to get a majority of the playing time in Garcia’s absence, Braves manager Brian Snitker indicated that versatile infield prospect Johan Camargo and veteran utility man Danny Santana would also play some at the position.
“They’re all three capable of doing it,” Snitker said. “We’ll just mix and match.”
Braves hand specialist Dr. Gary Lourie did the surgery Monday for an injury that occurred June 7 when Garcia took an awkward swing in the ninth inning of a game against the Phillies. He grimaced in pain after the swing, but stayed in the game and finished the at-bat after being checked by a team trainer.
The Braves put Garcia on the 10-day disabled list the next day with what was diagnosed as a sprained finger, and later tests showed the torn ligament.
“He screwed it up pretty bad,” Snitker said. “When they went in and did all the tests, the MRIs and all that kind of stuff, it was something that he needed to do to further his career. He was on the DL when they did all the MRIs and CAT scans and all that kind of stuff. We didn’t know it was that bad when we put him on the DL, just thought it was gigged or whatever, but not tore up like it was.”
It’s the second DL stint this season for Garcia, who missed two weeks with Achilles tendinitis and had been back less than a week before the finger injury. He has hit .282 with four homers, 16 RBIs and a career-low .633 OPS in 38 games this season, his third in the majors.
Garcia played with a damaged thumb ligament late in the 2016 season, an injury that initially looked like it might require surgery but healed without a procedure.
“That’s the thing that scares you about him is that he’s so tough,” Snitker said. “His pain tolerance is just off the roof. I mean, the guy just has a huge pain tolerance. He played through that thumb thing last year, the whole last month of the season it was a swing away – that thing, Gary looked at that and it miraculously got better on its own.
“But this was something that he had to take care of in order to go forward.”
