Despite the wonderful start that the Braves are off to here in 2026, the one lingering nuisance from the past two seasons has been the team’s absolutely horrible run of luck when it comes to injuries. The injury bug has now apparently come for Drake Baldwin, who will be heading to the 10-day IL with a strained right oblique muscle that he apparently sustained during Monday night’s debacle against the Marlins.
This is just one day after Ronald Acuña Jr. was activated from the IL after he strained his hamstring and this isn’t even the first time that we’ve seen one Braves player get activated either shortly before or after another one lands on the IL. It’s just one of those things that kind of elicits an “Are you kidding me” type of reaction every time it happens at this point.
Anyways, Baldwin will be heading to the IL with a .303/.389/.543 slash line with a .407 wOBA, 160 wRC+ and 13 home runs. He is going to be sorely missed for however long he’ll be gone and considering it’s an oblique injury, there’s no telling how long he’s going to be gone and how long it’ll take him to get back to full strength.
For now, the Braves will have to deal with an injury crisis at a position that seemed to be very well fortified at the end of last season. Sean Murphy has a fractured finger and likely won’t be back any time soon and now the Braves will be missing arguably the best-hitting catcher in the game for a very nebulous period of time. Frustration continues to abound when it comes to this team staying healthy.
Fortunately, the Braves are getting a player back from the IL, as Dylan Dodd will be returning to the fold after a rehab assignment. This is also apparently the end of the road for Aaron Bummer’s time with the Braves, as the corresponding move in activating Dodd was releasing Bummer.
Bummer has always been a controversial figure around here due to the fact that his steady numbers were seemingly outweighed by the fact that he had a knack for giving up hits at the most untimely moments. In 2026, however, Bummer just got hit left and right and ended up with a 7.63 ERA (187 ERA-) and an 8.65 FIP (216 FIP-) over just 15.1 innings of work — good for -0.8 fWAR on the season so far. Things were clearly trending in the wrong direction and Bummer will be leaving the team on a sour note after the Marlins absolutely tore him to pieces on Monday night.
