Cracked rib sidelines Braves' Freeman

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Cracked rib sidelines Braves' Freeman
10/08/2008 8:51 PM ET
By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com

Atlanta Braves prospect Freddie Freeman, recently selected Organizational Player of the Year, was sent home from the Florida Instructional League on Wednesday when it was discovered he had a cracked rib on his right side.
The injury is not considered serious and the club has no doubt that Freeman will be healthy when Spring Training begins. The 2007 second-round pick hit .316 this season at Class A Rome, equaling Myrtle Beach's Jason Heyward for the top spot among all of Atlanta's full-season affiliates. He also had 18 homers and led the organization with 95 RBIs.
Freeman, however, missed a week near the end of August and hit .153 (four-for-26) over his final eight games. He had no homers and just one RBI over his final nine contests.
"He had been battling it and we just found out today that it was a cracked rib," Braves director of player development Kurt Kemp said. "He hurt it right at the end of the Rome season. He was working out here but continuing to have trouble with it. It was a nagging thing that wasn't getting any better.
"So we did a bone scan and found a slight crack. At first, we thought it was a cartilage strain. He has been here [at instructs] since the beginning, but I don't think he's actually played in a game. He was doing some swinging early on. It's just a matter of him getting some rest."
Freeman finished fourth in the South Atlantic League in hits (155), extra-base hits (58) and RBIs and second in slugging percentage (.521).
In other instructional league news, outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and infielder Ernesto Mejia left camp to join their respective Winter League teams in Venezuela.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.