Atlanta Braves pregame news and notes for April 24: Updates on Michael Harris II, JR Ritchie and Raisel Iglesias

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Atlanta Braves pregame news and notes for April 24: Updates on Michael Harris II, JR Ritchie and Raisel Iglesias

Walt Weiss delivered some interesting tidbits ahead of the series opener against the Phillies.

Atlanta Braves pregame news and notes for April 24: Updates on Michael Harris II, JR Ritchie and Raisel Iglesias

Walt Weiss delivered some interesting tidbits ahead of the series opener against the Phillies.

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So, we ended up getting some interesting nuggets of news from the pregame press conference that Walt Weiss has before every home game. There’s one bit of concerning news, one bit of hopeful news and then something that seems obvious but it’s good to hear confirmed.

There was a bit of an injury scare for Michael Harris II after he had to exit Thursday’s win over the Nationals during the seventh inning as a precautionary move. At first, it seemed like the “All Clear” was here after Harris said that he “expected” to play on Friday and then he was listed in today’s lineup as well.

#Braves CF Michael Harris (quad tightness) has been scratched from Friday's lineup. MGR Walt Weiss said he's day-to-day and they don't anticipate it being an IL situation.

Unfortunately, they’ve scratched him from today’s lineup and are now listing him as being “day-to-day” with the left quad tightness. You don’t want to expect the worst but when you consider the injury luck that this team has had to deal with in recent years, I think we’re all hoping to the baseball gods above that Money Mike’s quad doesn’t act up on him any further.

Now granted, this doesn’t mean that Iglesias’ IL stint is going to be shorter than 14 days but apparently Weiss and the Braves training staff are encouraged with how he’s feeling so far. Weiss did state that Iglesias hasn’t started throwing yet but they aren’t expecting this to be a lengthy IL stint. Again, just like Harris, we’re all hoping that this is strictly just a two-week rest period for Iglesias and that there aren’t any setbacks between now and his anticipated return from the IL. For now, things are looking up in that department and the bullpen won’t have to hold down the fort for any longer than expected during Iglesias’ absence.

Raisel Iglesias has not resumed throwing yet, but Walt Weiss said the #Braves are encouraged by his progress and hope to have him back as soon as the IL stint is up.

Didier Fuentes received the call-up but went right back down after his short outing on Wednesday night. JR Ritchie was called up instead and ended up delivering a very creditable debut performance in helping the Braves pick up the series win. Clearly the Braves’ brass liked what they saw, since Weiss told the media that Ritchie will be sticking around with the big league ballclub and he now has an opportunity to pitch his way into staying in the rotation.

Couple notes from Walt Weiss this afternoon:• Michael Harris II has been scratched (as I’m sure you may have seen) and Eli White will play center field tonight• JR Ritchie remaining with the club for now because “we wanted him to be an option in the picture moving forward”

Obviously, it’d be a pretty huge development if Ritchie ended up being ready for The Show already. It would also bring up some questions about where he’d fit in with the rotation once guys like Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach make their eventual returns from injury. It’s a good problem to have though, as you can never have too much pitching and having a talented young arm like Ritchie’s around would certainly be a positive for the Braves going forward.

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