The Braves have activated outfielder Ender Inciarte from the 10-day injured list, the team announced. Right-hander Kyle Wright was also called up from Triple-A to start tonight’s game, while righties Huascar Ynoa and Bryse Wilson were sent down to Triple-A to create roster space.
Inciarte is set to take the field for the first time since May 14, as the outfielder has been sidelined with a lower lumbar strain that ended up costing him over a third of his season. That injury led to Atlanta’s promotion of top prospect Austin Riley, who got off to a scorching start before seeing his production severely drop off over the last month. While Riley still seems likely to get the bulk of everyday at-bats, his struggles will mean Inciarte will get at least some looks, if perhaps only against some right-handed starters. Ronald Acuna Jr. will obviously continue to be a fixture in every Braves lineup, likely moving between center and right field depending on whether Riley or Inciarte is playing.
While never a truly dangerous offensive threat, Inciarte had at least been roughly a league-average offensive producer before falling to a 90 wRC+ in 2018, and then this season’s disastrous 61 wRC+ mark (.218/.300/.323 over 140 plate appearances before hitting the IL). Even if Inciarte is reduced to being only a fourth outfielder, his strong defense and baserunning make him a valuable bench asset.
Since the Braves opted to demote a pitcher rather than a position player for Inciarte, Atlanta will go with a five-man bench that consists of four outfield options — Inciarte, Matt Joyce, and utilitymen Charlie Culberson and Johan Camargo. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently explored the Braves’ rather crowded bench situation, tossing around ideas like demoting Riley to get him straightened out at the plate to designating for assignment (or trading) one of Culberson, Adams, or even Inciarte. The latter would be the costliest and thus probably the least likely idea, as Inciarte is still owed over $16.4MM through the 2021 season.
Put him in the lineup, Riley needs a day off.
Maybe he will start fighting for his job
Riley is hitting .500 vs Stras. Not today, please.
Might be time to try a platoon between Riley & Ender. Riley’s struggles are worth a demotion, which is a decision I wouldn’t want to make,.with his hitting right now is as bad as Ender’s 1st half hitting , so what’s to lose? The defense and base-running would be a big plus..
Ugh, no.
Riley needs to be sent down and let him play everyday to build his confidence back up.
Inciarte is a 2nd half hitter & a superior defender. Let him share time with Charlie Clutch he deserves some more at bats.
Some players are just perfect for a bench role. Giving CC more regular abs would likely result in a regression to the mean and for whatever it is one off abs lead to a different focus type. He has mastered this. I dont want to change it unless we have too. We need Riley, he just needs work on breaking balls. Not sure if he is taking extra BP or how they are trying to correct it now. I’m sure they are trying but I’d like to hear about it…
Riley does not need to be sent down, but I do agree with giving him a day or two off to regroup. If anything Riley needs to atleast 2 of 3 every series and give ender a game here and there. Ender does not need to play against lefties at all. There are ways Snit can make this work but ender does not deserve the bulk of the playing time of anything Joyce deserves more time out there because he has produced when he has started games
Agree to disagree Riley looks lost out there and his defense is bad to horrible. I actually believe CC would get less at bats than he does now. Ender would be the LH part of a platoon and there are far more RHSP in MLB than lefties.
But when a lefty starts a game he would be in from the get go with Ender moving to the bench.
As it is now Riley gets all the starts with CC having to come off the bench for defensive purposes or pinch hitting for a pitcher. Very rarely getting any starts.
His defense is not horrible. Nice try
Riley is at +3 defensive runs saved which means he is FAR from horrible. He does look inexperienced though which is evident by some of his poor routes to the ball. In time though he has improved.
Well WATCHING the games let’s me know if his defensive runs saved number indicates anything other than horrible than that number is flawed and useless.
Watch the games his jumps are terrible and don’t justify him not hitting and striking out as much as he does. His greatest asset on the defensive side of the ball is his tremendous arm which is not utilized as a weapon.
It’s not his fault he is learning the position at the major league level.
He definitely played a part in helping but he is in a drastic slump and doesn’t need to be fighting thru it at the major league level in the thick of a pennant race.
To me he looks to be going down the Jeff Francour road without the defensive skills to justify keep playing him.
The kid is young it’s time to build up his confidence. His sample size is big enough now where the book is on him and he has things to work on.
He’s a second half hitter because it takes him the first half to get his timing down and the ability to see the ball out of the pitchers hand. At this point; it’s April for him once again.
Riley will be just fine and get going again. Inciarte should get some odd starts, pinch hits/bunts, pinch runs and late inning defensive replacement. It’ll all work itself out but good to have him back nonetheless.
Agree to disagree. I hope he’s traded.
yup exactly…Inciarte needs an actual first-half before he can be a second-half hitter lol….think that ship has sailed but hopefully he proves us all wrong! Besides don’t care what Algebra ‘metrics’ say, he’s a top level center fielder and is superior than Acuna at this point
Pretty sure most braves fans aren’t exactly excited about this news
You right. Here comes the league’s worst 8th spot hitter. Keep reminding me how good his glove is.
Matt Adams???? he’s not with the Braves anymore….
I thought the same thing. I’m sure they MEANT Matt Joyce.
Yeah my thoughts as well
Acuna would move between Left and Center, not Center and Right.
Am I missing something ?????
Riley has been horrible for awhile now and he doesn’t defend well enough to justify playing close to everyday.
He needs time to play everyday to work through his issues. That is what AAA is for.
Ender has a proven track record as a 2nd half hitter and he is a perennial GG. The lead in the standings are far from secure and the next 6 weeks or so can be used for Riley to get back on track where he is supposed to. Then come back up in September for the stretch run hopefully with the confidence he is obviously lacking right now.
Glad someone cleared that up. I was like, when did the Braves get Matt Adams, and where is Joyce? Lol
Lane Adams?
My 2 cents, try to trade Ender in a package for a proven closer….. I said try.
Braves have enough OF depth to let Riley sit some games and if for some reason help was needed in CF Pache could be as valuable or more so than Ender.
Getting Ender time now in CF could mess the chemistry up ?
Pache & or Waters are not ready yet and Markakis is the only other OF not named Acuna signed for next year. I don’t think you can get the value back that Ender is worth.
Demeritte, Duvall, Culberson, Camargo. Any of them can handle left field until Pache is ready.
What happens if Acuña get hurt, who’s going to ay CF?
Duvall
Pache and Waters haven’t seen AAA – we can’t afford to be wrong for their development and our playoff spot. Nats and Phils aren’t dead until the end credits.
Everything i’ve said about Riley came true. Strike outs are and likely will be his problem going forward. The Braves can afford an all or nothing type though in the lineup.
As for Wright, hopefully this is the last week we see him in a Braves uni along side with Touki.
They must have some hidden metric they are using to decide he’s ready to be called up. All I see is barely a 200 average with an OPS of around. .500. in his rehab games.
Ender was flat out awful in the first half. So, it’s not like we missed the dude from the lineup. In fact, it was a net positive since we got a good stretch of Riley being way better than him at the plate.
With his mediocre average and barely adequate obp, the only thing you can do is bat him 8th and hope he can still play defense..
The metric is called major league rules if he is healthy he needs to be called up.
it is a rule with certain amount of service time ar major league level….once certain players begin rehab assignments they need to be called up within 20 days (something like that) or they become open to waivers claims…at least I think ha!
To be honest I am not of the full belief Ender is an answer in the OF either. All I am saying is Riley has things he needs to work on. It’s my belief most Brave fans have him penciled in for 3B next year. For that to happen he needs time to work on things and be given the best chance to succeed.
It’s not for the whole year it’s for 6 weeks. If the bat comes back he can be a weapon again in September.
Hell even have him play LF down there where he can work on that as well.
Would love for the Pirates to sell & get our hands on Sterlin Marte but that doesn’t look like it’s happening any time soon
We know you have a crush on Marte, but he’s not a long-term solution and we’d have to give up long-term assets to get him.
Riley can’t do anything worthwhile at Gwinnett. He’s maxed that out. He needs to take his lumps at the MLB level to get better. I actually think it will do him more good to periodically sit on the MLB bench than playing at the AAA level.
He doesn’t have to be a long term answer he can be a short term answer.
He is signed thru 2021 that’s this year and 2 more and would be 32 years old at the end of his contract. At a reasonable price so he would be moveable if Waters & Pache are ready before then.
He’s almost 31 and very average. We don’t need him.
Learning yo lay off a breaking pitch is not worthwhile ?????
A AAA breaking pitch isn’t the same as an MLB breaking pitch. He needs to learn at the MLB level now.
again agree to disagree over the years I have seen tremendous talent pushed before they were ready and it effect them long term
Not everybody is Acuna and can come up and be a generational talent.
And like I said it’s not forever but for another what 6 weeks until September when the rosters expand.
Could it be possible that all our high-end pitching prospects Coppy traded for and drafted over the years…just aren’t that high-end as we all were told?!. Looking that way
Soroka looks like the real deal
SP is do hit or miss. Out of all of them if 2-3 hit that is a good number to hit on.
I just don’t understand why all these kids gotta be rushed and it’s not only with the Braves. Seems like a lot of teams are bringing up these kids way to early.
Ender can’t hit he hurts the team chemistry. He has to go. Trade him back to Arizona. Work out the money get Greinke. Throw in Oday and Gausman. Tyler flowers passes more balls than strikes he gets called. I would rather watch Riley strike out than watch Flowers or Ender bat.
I would like to see Greinke in Atlanta. Ender is needed in Atl. still. Acuna isn’t the CF that Ender is, yet. O’day and Gausman aren’t any good for trade, they will both be free agents after the year.
That’s to take some off his salary. Duvall can play center and is a better Out fielder than Acuna. Pache will be ready next year.
The Padres need a LH centerfielder who can get on base.
We’ll take Ender if you’ll take Wil Myers and his contract.
Lol
Maybe in the offseason for Myers. SD takes some of Myers money or equal the money out.
Braves have kept the young guys this long. Why trade them now? Braves missed a chance to get Kimbrel. 43 million is kinda cheap. If we can get a pretty good starter now Bumgardner, Minor, Greinke without trading a top prospect then fine. Otherwise, stay with what we got. I would throw Folty in on a trade, Folty for Bumgardner and Smith straight-up, may throw in a lower level guy. Same for Minor. No to Stroman.