The Braves announced that infielder Ozzie Albies has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right great toe fracture. Infielder David Fletcher has been selected to take his place on the roster. Atlanta had a couple of vacancies on its 40-man roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard.
Albies was hit on the toe by a pitch in the second inning of last night’s game against the Astros. He stayed in the game and played the rest of it, but it appears that some post-game testing revealed a fracture. The fact that he didn’t immediately leave the contest perhaps suggests it will be a brief stint on the IL, but the club hasn’t yet provided any estimates of that nature.
For however long he’s out, it will be a blow the club. Albies has been a consistently strong hitter and was out to a hot start this year. He’s hit .273/.326/.479 in his career but currently sits on a robust slash of .317/.386/.492 in 2024.
Losing that kind of production would be unwelcome at any time but it’s compounded by the fact that Atlanta is also without right-hander Spencer Strider and catcher Sean Murphy. Strider required season-ending elbow surgery recently while Murphy still has an uncertain timeline as he works his way back from an oblique strain. Even if Albies is slated for a short stint on the IL, having three key contributors all out at the same time isn’t ideal.
In the meantime, the club has Luis Guillorme on the roster and has now added Fletcher as well, with those two the likeliest to cover the keystone while Albies is out. Fletcher was acquired from the Angels in December in a move that was largely motivated by financial concerns. Atlanta took on the contracts of Fletcher and Max Stassi while shipping out Evan White and Tyler Thomas. Stassi was quickly traded to the White Sox and Fletcher was outrighted off the roster.
Atlanta took on some extra money here in 2024 by making that deal but will be paying slightly less in 2025 and 2026, while it also allowed them to retain some non-roster infield depth in the form of Fletcher. They knew this would be the case thanks to the peculiar specificity of Fletcher’s situation.
Fletcher has long been a strong defender at multiple positions but with a contact-oriented approach at the plate that generally leads to subpar offense. He had a strong performance in the shortened 2020 season, hitting .319/.376/.425 for a wRC+ of 121. The Halos decided to bank on that as a breakout by signing Fletcher to a five-year, $26MM extension going into 2021.
Unfortunately, his production dipped back down and he got nudged out of playing time for the Angels, with that 2020 season looking like a clear outlier. Though his 9.5% career strikeout rate is much stronger than league average, he’s also only walked at a 6.2% clip and hit just 16 home runs in 2,180 plate appearances. He’s hit .277/.323/.359 in his career and just .259/.296/.327 since the 2020 season.
Twice last year, the Angels passed Fletcher through waivers unclaimed, hardly a surprising outcome since any claiming club would have to take on the remainder of the contract. Since Fletcher had over three years of service time, he had the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service time, exercising that right would mean forfeiting what’s left of his deal. He obviously waived that right and stayed with the club, getting added back to the roster at a later date both times.
As mentioned, Atlanta also outrighted him off the roster after acquiring him, since they were undoubtedly aware of Fletcher’s position. But now the injury to Albies has opened the door for him to get back to the majors. His service time count currently sits at four years and 168 days. Since a new year rolls over at 172 days, Fletcher is just four days away from reaching the five-year plateau.
Assuming he sticks on the roster while Albies is out, that will change his status significantly. If he’s bumped off the roster again in a few weeks and clears waivers, then he could elect free agency without sacrificing any of the money on his contract. That would allow him to seek out the best situation for himself while a signing club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with Atlanta staying on the hook for the remainder. He’s making $6MM this year and $6.5MM next year with an $8MM club option for 2026 that comes with a $1.5MM buyout.
For now, Fletcher will provide Atlanta with some depth all over the diamond, as he has played the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners, getting strong marks wherever he’s lined up.
