2022 has not been kind to the Braves second baseman. Ozzie Albies began the year slowly, but things got much worse when he fractured his foot in mid-June. It took him nearly three months to return, but he was finally back last weekend against the Phillies… only to break his pinky in his second game back. The Braves have officially ruled him out for the regular season, but could we see Ozzie Albies return at some point during the postseason?
I recently spoke with Michelle G. Carlson, MD, a hand and upper extremity surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), and asked her how long it typically takes for someone to recover from a broken pinky and whether we could see Albies at some point in October.
“It depends on the type of break,” Michelle G. Carlson, MD said. “Three to four weeks would be the fastest. Most common is six weeks.”
Three weeks on the dot would be right around October 7th, which coincidently happens to be the start of the National League Wild Card Series. Of course, it feels unlikely Ozzie Albies would be ready by then, but the NLDS, NLCS, or World Series seem like legitimate possibilities.
There is also the issue of how comfortable the Braves would feel playing him over Vaughn Grissom after Albies missed nearly four straight months. If Atlanta has another deep postseason run, there’s a chance we see him on the roster at some point, but I’m not sure what his role would be.
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