Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Luck hasn’t been kind to the Atlanta Braves, who have been banged up all season.

Their bad luck hit Whit Merrifield shortly after he arrived in Atlanta.

Merrifield signed with Atlanta and joined the Braves on July 22, 10 days after being released by Philadelphia. He was fielding grounders during batting practice before a home game when he took a shot off his right middle finger. At first, he didn’t think it was anything serious. Then he saw the blood and left to go get evaluated. The X-rays were negative, but for someone who was excited about the possibility of significant playing time and a fresh start after a rough stint with Philly, it was a huge letdown.

Talk about more tough luck, it happened on his last grounder of the day.

“Just a bad hop,” Merrifield said.

He said the finger was “pretty gnarly.” “(It) shredded the skin underneath the nail. Got four stitches going through the nail into the finger and they glued my nail back down to my finger. Bone was popping out under the skin.”

Since Merrifield can’t throw the ball with any zip or grip the bat properly, he will have to settle for a pinch-running role until the stitches are removed.

“Can’t make it up,” manager Brian Snitker said. “This year is something else. It would’ve been a good opportunity for him to get in there today, but just went out and tried, and he can’t launch the ball very well.”

A three-time All-Star with a career average of .281, Merrifield couldn’t get going in Philly, hitting .199 in 156 at-bats.

“It was a new role for me and I just didn’t get off to a good start,” Merrifield said. “It felt like every time I got back in there, I was trying to go 4 for 4 with four homers to try to get back on track, and that’s not really a good way to approach (it) game in, game out. But yeah, I just couldn’t seem to get it going, for whatever reason. It just didn’t seem like it was meant to be.

“The positives, for me, was that if you look at my speed numbers, strength numbers, those are all actually better than they have been in the past. So physically, I feel like I’m in a good spot – actually better than I have been in previous years. There’s just things baseball-wise that I need to iron out, and hopefully I can do that here.

“I loved my time over there, I really did. Hey, it didn’t work out. It just didn’t seem like it was meant to be, but hopefully it’s meant for me to be a Brave.”

Three days after signing a one-year contract, Merrifield made his Atlanta debut in a July 25 game at the New York Mets. With the score tied in the top of the ninth, Eddie Rosario walked and Merrifield entered as a pinch runner. A three-time stolen base champion in the American League, he took off on the first pitch and swiped second. That made the 35-year-old 12 of 13 for the season in steals.

Three pitches later, he broke for third. It was an extremely close play, but Merrifield was called out. The Braves challenged. After a lengthy review, the umpire announced to the crowd that the call “stands.” The Braves would lose 3-2 in 10 innings.

After signing with Atlanta, Merrifield joked around with the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, telling him on the phone that “they were screwed – in a polite way to say it,” he said.

Merrifield can’t get on the field until the stitches are removed, and Snitker said that could happen around Aug. 1.