Braves' Freeman won't be back until after All-Star Break
ATLANTA -- The Braves will be without Freddie Freeman at least until the All-Star Break, with the first baseman still feeling pain and soreness in his ailing right wrist.
"I have no timetable for my return," he said Thursday. "It's day-to-day. They're still doing a lot of treatment for some wrist inflammation from my tendons and ligaments and the bone bruise is healing, so we're kind of focusing all our time on getting the inflammation out of the ligament area and that's why we started a new treatment three days ago."
Freeman has been out since the seventh inning of the June 17 game against the Red Sox and after an MRI showed no broken bones, he received a platelet-rich plasma injection June 25. He is hopeful his wrist responds and he'll be able to start a rehab stint by July 8-10.
"That's the best-case scenario and unfortunately I can't give a timetable because I don't know how I'm going to react to this new treatment I'm doing with the PRP," he said.
He was first due to come off the disabled list on Friday, with his assignment retroactive to June 18, the day after Freeman's last game.
Before the injury Freeman had played in 234 consecutive games -- the longest active streak -- and the notion of sitting has been difficult for the 25-year-old, who has averaged 153 games a year since 2011, his first full season in the majors.
"It's pretty painful, actually," Freeman said. "When you play every single day for about a year and a half straight and you physically can't go out there and play.
"I was pretty bummed for a while and I'm just focused on trying to get back healthy. It's definitely tough being at home watching the team play on the road and definitely sitting in the dugout watching everybody play right now."
Hitting .299/.367/.520 on the season with 12 home runs and 41 RBI, Freeman was on a tear in his last 18 games, going 23 for 70 (.329) with six homers, four doubles, 17 RBI, a .329 OBP and .643 slugging percentage.
Atlanta's offense has faded without him, averaging 2.16 runs per game while going 5-7. Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Nationals marked the third time sans Freeman that the Braves scored more than two runs.
It was thought that Freeman initially injured his wrist on a swing June 13 against Mets -- an ailment he didn't disclose and would stay in the lineup for two more games before that exit vs. Boston -- but he admitted Thursday that it actually goes back six years.
He was shut down after the Double-A season in 2009 with an injury that healed with two months' rest, but believes he re-aggravated it in New York. He tried a cortisone shot and after that didn't work, he opted to have the PRP injection. Freeman has not participated in any baseball activities.
"I'm trying to avoid everything as much as I possibly can and rest it and do all the treatments they say and do everything the doctors tell me," he said. "Hopefully (a return is) sooner rather than later."
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
