Injury updates: Albies, Fried, Martin

Ozzie Albies wasn’t ready to return to the Braves' lineup for Sunday night’s game against the Cubs in Chicago. But the second baseman hopes to be ready for Tuesday night’s series opener at Yankee Stadium.

“He’s getting better,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “With today and the [off-day] tomorrow, I'm hoping he’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.”

Albies hasn’t played since his right calf was struck by a pitch in the ninth inning of Friday’s series-opening win over the Cubs. He had been struck in the same area by a pitch during Thursday’s win over the Marlins.

As a result, this contusion has caused a little more swelling and soreness than normal.

Albies has hit just .157 (8-for-51) with two homers and a .615 OPS through his first 14 games. His only multihit performance came in Tuesday’s 14-8 loss to Miami.

Ehire Adrianza filled Albies’ void at second base during the final two games of this weekend’s series at Wrigley Field.

Lingering discomfort
Snitker said he is still hoping Max Fried misses just one start with his strained right hamstring. But the club will certainly be cautious with Fried, who continued to feel some soreness on Sunday.

Fried tweaked the hamstring while going from second to third base on a wild pitch after he had already allowed a career-high eight runs (seven earned) on Tuesday.

“It’s a hamstring,” Snitker said. “When it’s ready, it will be ready. Then we’ll get him back out there.”

The Braves’ rotation took a hit last week when Fried and Drew Smyly were placed on the injured list. Smyly felt left forearm discomfort after his April 11 start against the Phillies.

With two off-days this week, the Braves do not need to add another starter to their rotation until April 27. It’s unknown whether Fried or Smyly will be ready to return by then.

Martin still inactive
When asked for a Chris Martin update on Wednesday, Snitker said, “He’s scheduled to [throw] in a couple of days." But as of Sunday evening, Snitker wasn’t sure when his top setup man might be cleared to begin throwing exercises.

“I don’t know if it’s a bad sign,” Snitker said. “I don’t know if we ever really had a timetable on this. I don’t like putting timetables on it because you just never know how a guy is going to progress.”

Martin certainly hasn’t progressed in an encouraging manner since being forced to exit an April 4 loss to the Phillies because of numbness in his fingers. It was later determined the numbness was related to what was diagnosed as right shoulder inflammation.

With Martin having been inactive for two weeks already, he may need additional time to regain arm strength once he is cleared to begin throwing and accelerating his rehab.