Braves 3B Austin Riley won’t return even if Atlanta makes playoffs

Austin Riley’s broken right hand will keep him sidelined for the playoffs if the Atlanta Braves get there.

A CT scan Monday revealed that the slugging third baseman’s injury had not healed sufficiently.

“It just wasn’t healing enough to think that he could come back this year,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday.

Riley was hit by a 97 mph fastball from Jack Kochanowicz of the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 18. He was projected to miss the rest of the regular season, but there was hope if the Braves advanced deep enough into the playoffs, Riley could return.

“He’s still in a cast, so realistically, it was going to be pretty tough for him,” Snitker said. “We’d have to go pretty deep in the playoffs. It is not where the doctors wanted it to be.”

The Braves entered the final week trailing Arizona for third NL wild card spot by 1 1/2 games.

[Related: Who will claim the final wild-card spots?]

Riley had 19 homers, 56 RBIs and a .256 average in 110 games one season after hitting 37 homers and driving in 97 runs. The two-time All-Star had averaged 159 games the previous three seasons.

Snitker said Riley is expected to be fully healed before spring training.

Third baseman Gio Urshela, who was waived by the Tigers the day Riley was injured, was signed by the Braves and has hit .270 with three homers in 30 games for Atlanta.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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