Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman was able to grip a bat with his injured left index finger on Monday and is hoping to be in Tuesday's lineup, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Freeman injured the finger on June 6 when he was sliding into the second and the double-play throw from Marlins' Jose Reyes hit Freeman. Freeman played in five of the next six games, going 4-for-18 before deciding the discomfort was too much. Monday was the fifth consecutive start Freeman missed.
From the AJC:
"It looks good," (Freeman) said. "I swung off the tee today and everything. There’s still a little pain, but it’s playable pain. They told me I’m going to have to play through it the rest of this year. But it’s to the point where I can play…. Hopefully it’ll be good to go tomorrow. This is the best it’s felt [since the injury]. I can even make a fist now; I couldn’t do that two days ago."
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