Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki avoided a stint on the 10-day disabled list, but will probably miss at least five games in all before returning to the lineup.
Suzuki has been out with a bruised right hand since he was hit by a pitch Friday in the second game of the season. It was a frightening incident that initially looked like it might force the Braves to put a veteran catcher on the DL for the second time in as many days after Tyler Flowers strained an oblique in his first at-bat Thursday.
But Suzuki had no broken bones or other serious damage and by Tuesday he was recovered enough to hit soft-tossed pitches in two sessions in the batting cage, Braves manager Brian Snitker.
He was available to play in an emergency situation Tuesday or Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals, but with the team having a day off Thursday the plan was to rest Suzuki and not play him until Friday’s series opener at Colorado.
“He hit a couple of times in the cage,” Snitker said Tuesday afternoon in updating Suzuki’s situation. “I’d feel better now if something happened in the game, I wouldn’t hesitate to put him in. But I think we’re going to try to shoot for Friday now, if we can get him through these next couple of days and with the off day Thursday, get him more treatment, he should be ready Friday.
“I worry more just about getting jammed or something like that and digging into that bruise again. If we can give him a couple more days, that’d be better.”
The Braves opened the season with their primary catchers Flowers and Suzuki as well as a third catcher, veteran backup Chris Stewart. Stewart made his third consecutive start Tuesday night against the Nationals and the Braves again had veteran catcher Carlos Perez as his backup after acquiring Perez from the Angels in a Saturday trade for infielder Ryan Schimpf.
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