Third baseman Jose Bautista, whom the Braves signed to a minor league contract this week, could join the team during its upcoming road trip, Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes. The Braves will be out of Atlanta from April 23 through May 3, and Bautista will begin that period at Triple-A Gwinnett. A longtime superstar outfielder with the Blue Jays, Bautista has looked good at third with the Braves thus far, according to infield instructor Adam Everett. The 37-year-old played a bit of third in 2017, though he hasn’t lined up there on any kind of regular basis since 2011.
Here’s more from the NL:
- Reds legend Barry Larkin “has always coveted” their managerial job, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Now that the team has fired previous skipper Bryan Price and is currently going with an interim option in Jim Riggleman, it’s possible Larkin will emerge as a candidate when the Reds’ search for a full-time skipper begins in earnest. Larkin, a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Reds from 1986-2004, currently works with the team as a special assistant. Former major league skipper and ex-Red Buddy Bell is also under Cincinnati’s employ (as a senior adviser), but the 66-year-old is uninterested in managing the club, John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports on Twitter.
- The Diamondbacks are tentatively planning to activate third baseman Jake Lamb from the disabled list on Tuesday, though Arizona manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic) that Lamb would need one final evaluation from the team training staff. Lamb hasn’t played since April 2 due to a shoulder injury, though his absence hasn’t seemed to faze the Diamondbacks, who have gone 13-5 without him. Third base fill-ins Daniel Descalso and Deven Marrero have struggled, however.
- We’re in an era in which batters are attempting to hit the ball in the air, so Phillies pitchers are trying to combat that by throwing up in the zone, Matt Gelb of The Athletic explains (subscription required). The plan has worked so far for Philadelphia, whose pitchers entered Sunday having allowed the majors’ fewest home runs (11) and its second-lowest slugging percentage against (.320). “A huge focus in spring training was pitching at the top of the strike zone,” said catcher Andrew Kapp. “We were doing a really good job of that. And these guys are just hitting their spots. All we’re doing behind the plate is just suggesting: ’Hey, this is where we think we should go.’ But they have to hit the spot at the end of the day.” Phillies pitchers hit the spot once again Sunday, yielding just two runs and seven hits in an 11-inning win over the Pirates.
Joey Bats played 8 games at 3b last year.
And was asked to touch the ball merely 10 times
Also, apparently “so far” is that whole 1 game at AAA for Atl where he touched the ball once
No kidding. It’s not like they see the man in practice daily. Oh wait…
You do realize he only signed the contract 5 days ago, correct? So I can only assume by “daily” you mean a couple days max, and possibly as low as once
I’d also add that you may very well look okay taking grounders in BP, it is not that difficult to do
Oh yeah? Have video of your doing so to share?
You talking to me, and about fielding 3rd in BP, chrisones?
Yeah, I might actually be able to show you video (or more likely pictures) of at least Pitchers and some 40+ year old Coaches doing it, as it’s not uncommon to see them goofing around at SS/3rd in the minors for a bit if you go in for BP fairly often
The next Reds manager will likely be either Larkin or John Farrell, the the best combination would be to have Larkin manage and Ferrell shift to pitching coach where he’ll have his work cut out for him. Ultimately the best course for this team may be the bleakest of possibilities: restart the rebuild, and that would require a much more skilled front office than the one in place.
Whoever is manager and pitching coach they will not succeed until Castellini shakes up the front office and fire Dick Williams and the scouting department for all the bad trades that he hurt the organization!
Joe Girardi and Ron Washington are out there as well. Riggleman is just an extension of Bryan Price…..nothing different in his first 3 games.
Make Pete Rose the manager!! haha
That will never happen! EVER! Rose is banned from the game
He signed the lifetime ban
and agreed to it himself! He deserved everything he got. Disrespected the game
and the fans! He’s got no morals or integrity at all!
By rushing Bautista up I guess they’re not viewing Camargo as long term viable option at 3rd until Austin Riley is ready? Camargo does seem like Omar Infante 2.0
Well, one of the few holes in the lineup is cleanup. With Culberson not producing as IF, Camargo could step in there, while trying Bautista. Honestly, this is only for this season. Riley should be promoted to AAA sometime soon considering how he’s been hitting AA pitching (8 doubles in 16 games).
I’m sure it has to do with his power potential compared to the other options. Bautista is going to protect Freeman in the fourth spot.
I think it’s more they want a power option on the bench before they are giving up on camargo. CC has been awful, if you’re gonna have an awful player sit ur bench, might as well be someone who might actually hit it out of the park
The only thing Bautista is protecting at this stage of his career is his pocket.
And yet, look what 3 months of Matt Kemp’s “protection” meant to Freeman’s production.
Cafardo is pushing the “Betts is better than Trout” trope. Betts is really a special player, but it’s a little early to push him ahead of Trout.
I’m a Red Sox fan. With that being said, anyone who declares he’s better than Trout is ridiculous. I do think he is the guy closest to Trout though. He may not be the second best player in baseball, but Trout and Betts dominate at being great at everything.
Why are you even posting anything about the Red Sox?
Ja! True