An all-too-familiar theme for the Braves this season has been scrambling to replace a key player who has fallen to major injury. It started early with Spencer Strider, continued with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies and the latest is Austin Riley, who was diagnosed with a broken hand on Monday. The expectation is he’ll miss six to eight weeks, which leaves the Braves looking for help at third.
This late in the year, their options appear to be Yuli Gurriel and Gio Urshela.
The Braves and Urshela, who was released by the Tigers on Sunday, have agreed to a major-league deal, the team announced Tuesday. In 92 games with Detroit this season, Urshela hit .243/.286/.333 (73 OPS+) with five homers and 37 RBI. He was last a productive hitter in 2022, but at least he has played a lot of third base recently.
In the minors sits the 40-year-old Gurriel, who has spent the entirety of this season with Triple-A Gwinnett. In 72 games, he’s hit .300/.380/.498 with 18 doubles, 12 homers, 48 RBI, 38 runs and 11 steals. Those are good offensive numbers, though the former AL batting champion was last a productive MLB hitter in 2021. The team plans to give him some reps at third to see if he’s a valid option, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. Gurriel hasn’t played third in the majors since 2021 and he hasn’t started there since 2019. This speaks to the desperation the Braves are feeling.
The Braves returned home after winning five of their last seven on a west coast trip. They hold the last NL wild-card spot, a game and a half up on the Mets, and are seven games behind the Phillies. Atlanta hosts the Phillies for three games starting on Tuesday, so there’s a chance to make the NL East race interesting.
Of course, due to injuries, the Braves have an awfully thin lineup right now. Losing Riley only compounds matters. They’ll hope to catch a hot streak from Gurriel and/or Urshela down the stretch.
