The Braves outrighted Ryan Flaherty after he cleared waivers, as Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was among those to tweet. The veteran infielder has accepted the assignment, but can still choose to elect free agency at season’s end.
Flaherty, 32, rushed out to a hot start at the plate but steadily trailed off over the course of the season. Through 172 total plate appearances in 2018, he’s slashing just .222/.298/.301 — good for a meager 59 wRC+ that falls in line with his numbers in recent seasons.
Flaherty’s role diminished as well with Johan Camargo returning to action and Charlie Culberson engaged in his own surprising run of success. (Interestingly, Statcast actually gives Flaherty the slight edge in xwOBA for the year over Culberson, taking a rather dim view of both players’ batted-ball output.) When a roster spot was needed recently, Flaherty was designated for assignment. He had taken only 32 plate appearances over the preceding two months.
Despite his offensive struggles, Flaherty will “likely” be added back to the MLB roster at some point in September, Burns tweets. Of course, that would still require the Atlanta organization to open a 40-man spot, so other considerations could still intervene. Presumably, if he does make it back to the majors this season, Flaherty will see occasional time as a defensive and baserunning replacement.
This guy has been the 25.5 man every year of his career. I am glad he is still playing a game anyone of us would pay money to do. Always a gamer, always a professional.
I’m still curious. Why did the Braves cut Ryan Flaherty? Did they acquire another versitile defender, pinch runner and LH hitter off the bench?
at the time I wondered the same thing. i agreed with camargo needing playing time but that failed Jbats experiment really cost flaherty, although from a purely business perspective he was never a long term piece
Yeah, they should have let Flaherty keep going and never tried Joey Bats at 3rd. Would have been interesting to see if Flaherty could have at least keep league average production through a whole year.
Flaherty wasn’t hitting. That’s why he got cut.
It’s hard to hit.
It’s harder to hit averaging 16 at bats every 30-31 Days.
He lost at bats because he wasn’t hitting. His numbers in May were awful
Logan Forsythe is still available, just saying