The Atlanta Braves will be without one of their cavalcade of All-Stars for at least the next little while, as the team officially placed second baseman Ozzie Albies on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday morning with a strained left hamstring. Albies left Sunday’s game against the New York Mets with what was initially diagnosed with hamstring cramping, but furthering testing revealed something a bit more serious — and with the Braves already cruising to a division title, there’s no reason to risk the health of one of their most important players.
The #Braves today recalled INF Vaughn Grissom to Atlanta and placed INF Ozzie Albies on the 10-day injured list, backdated to August 14, with a strained left hamstring.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 15, 2023
The team has yet to offer a timeline for Albies’ return to the Majors, but reports indicate that this isn’t a particularly serious strain. It’s possible he could be back by the end of August.
Like seemingly everyone else in Atlanta’s league-best lineup, Albies has been in the midst of a career year in 2023. The 26-year-old is slashing .267/.327/.514 with 28 homers on the season, on pace to blow past his previous high of 30, while also going 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts and driving in 90 runs (second in the NL behind only teammate Matt Olson).
Before his streak came to an end on Monday night, Albies had also been one of several Braves regulars — Olson, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Austin Riley — that had appeared in every one of the team’s games so far this year. Of course, for as good as Albies has been, if there’s any team that can overcome the loss of an All-Star infielder it’s Atlanta: In their first game without Albies, they rolled to an 11-3 win over the Yankees on Monday.
The team also has quite the replacement lined up. Vaughn Grissom, called up to take Albies’ place on the roster, is hardly your typical Triple-A stopgap. He slashed .291/.353/.440 with five homers and five steals over 41 games in his MLB debut last season, and the Braves let Dansby Swanson walk this winter in part because they were confident in Grissom as a potential replacement at shortstop. Orlando Arcia beat him out for that gig in spring training — largely due to Grissom’s defensive issues at the 6 — but Grissom has responded by posting a .906 OPS in the Minors this year. And with Arcia very capably holding down shortstop, Grissom will be able to slide over to second base, a position he’s far better suited to playing.
