For the most part, it’s a great day to be an Atlanta sports fan. The Falcons finally swung a trade for an impact pass rusher, acquiring Matthew Judon from the Patriots for a third-round pick. On the Braves side of things, the club welcomes Michael Harris II back into the starting lineup tonight for the first time in two months.
However, in a year where nothing seems to go right, we can’t have too much good news at one time. Prior to Wednesday’s game, Brian Snitker confirmed that A.J. Minter will need hip surgery, which likely means he’ll miss the rest of the season, but they don’t quite know that just yet.
Minter needs hip surgery. With six weeks left, the assumption is he'll miss the remainder of the season. But Snitker said a definite timeline won't be known until the procedure is completed
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 15, 2024
This is yet another massive blow for a team that has suffered more catastrophic injuries in one season than perhaps any team in MLB history.
A.J. Minter has been dealing with this hip injury all season. He already went on the IL once but attempted to come back and gut it out. The results were still pretty good — 2.62 ERA over 46.2 innings — but something has clearly been bothering him. His velocity has been down several miles per hour, and as a result, so are his strikeout numbers.
For a guy in a contract year, it really is a testament to the competitive fire in A.J. Minter that he even came back. He’s a winner and has been a key cog for the Braves bullpen over the last half-decade. Who knows how this might affect contract negotiations this winter, but it’s a bitter pill to swallow for all parties.
The Braves will now have to find a way to replace Minter. They do have some electric arms at the minor-league level, and perhaps we even see Reynaldo Lopez in relief again as the season wanes.
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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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