Atlanta Braves: Tyler Flowers Lands on the Disabled List
By Kit Anderson
Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers has landed on the DL. After only playing in part of game one the Braves will already be without one of their better veterans. Flowers is expected to miss extended time.
Tyler Flowers was expected to be the Atlanta Braves primary catcher and help carry the load of teaching a young pitching staff. That all changed when Flowers took a hard swing and left the game with a left oblique injury.
Left oblique injuries are often hard to come back from and from the little the Braves have let out it could be a good chunk of time that Flowers misses with the injury.
Kurt Suzuki will take over as the Braves starting catcher with Chris Stewart as his back-up and likely only to start when Suzuki needs a day off.
Stewart is is a light hitting catcher and unlikely to help the Braves offense much but he will be a great addition to help handle a young pitching staff.
Flowers hitting the DL likely means that Nick Markakis will be tasked with protecting Freddie Freeman for the early portion of the season.
The only other option would be Suzuki or playing the hot hand behind Freeman. Suzuki is coming off of a career best year at the plate and will look to continue that momentum.
The injury will put more pressure on Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson as well to avoid struggling and offer consistent production.
Albies is fully capable of doing just that while Swanson is starting to leave doubts in Braves’ fans minds if he is truly the shortstop of the future.
The Braves recalled a relief pitcher to replace Tyler Flowers meaning the Braves will be dealing with an extended pen but have less moves to make with the lineup. No doubt losing Tyler Flowers was a big blow to the Braves in an otherwise perfect Opening Day.