The Braves pitching staff has done a marvelous job of navigating injuring over the first two-plus months of the season. Their rotation has been without Max Fried and Kyle Wright–two guys who finished inside the top ten of the NL Cy Young voting last year–for most of the season. But the bullpen has also seen several critical pieces go down at different points. First it was Raisel Iglesias and Collin McHugh; now, Dylan Lee is currently on the IL.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup against the Mets, Brian Snitker gave some updates on Max Fried and Dylan Lee. Although, they weren’t all too encouraging. He said both players are still just playing catch, and there is no timetable for them to return to the mound.
Fried was recently transferred to the 60-day IL, so he won’t be eligible to return to the Braves until July 5th. Hopefully, he begins a rehab assignment before then and can join the team around the All-Star break, but the Braves are rightfully taking things extremely cautiously with him. He’s arguably the most important part of this team, and it’s hard to imagine the Braves winning another World Series without him at full strength. As much as they need him now, they are going to need him much more down the stretch and into October.
Lee hit the injured list with shoulder inflammation, which is never a good sign for a pitcher. He was amid another fantastic campaign for the Braves, boasting a 3.10 ERA and 10.2 K/9 over 20.1 innings before the injury. There won’t be a clear timetable for his return until he begins throwing off of a mound, but just like Fried, I imagine the Braves are going to be very careful with him. As we’ve seen with Kyle Wright this year, shoulder injuries can linger. They are going to make sure Lee is 100% healthy before we see him back on the mound again.
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