Freddie Freeman, the Braves' best prospect and future first baseman, injured his thumb during an Arizona Fall League game.
Talking Chop reports:
Freeman injured a thumb while sliding into 3rd base after hitting a triple and left the game right after. The injury is being called a sprain and will have it evaluated tomorrow.
If the injury is even close to being serious, it's time to bring Freeman back to Atlanta. We've all seen how long it can take for thumb, hand and wrist injuries to heal and there's no reason to have Freddie risk future injury for some relatively meaningless swings in the AFL. He's already been named the heavy favorite to be the starting 1B for the Braves in 2011 and we'll need him to be ready from Day 1. If he misses a few weeks, so be it.
Freeman had been getting some extra at bats as a member of the AFL's Phoenix Desert Dogs after spending all of 2010 in either AAA or the majors. Braves GM Frank Wren felt Freeman's additional fall experience would make a difference in his development, and the Braves had only planned for him to play six weeks of fall ball.