Braves Select John Brebbia

The Braves announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of veteran right-hander John Brebbia. To make room for the hurler on the 40-man roster, Atlanta designated southpaw Zach Logue for assignment. Outfielder Eli White was also recalled to the big leagues, and alongside Brebbia will take the two roster spots created by today’s expansion of rosters from 26 to 28 players. Brebbia was released by the White Sox on Friday and evidently subsequently signed with the Braves on a minor league deal, but the move had not been reported prior to Atlanta’s announcement this morning.

Brebbia, 34, signed a $5.5MM guarantee with Chicago over the offseason. The partnership between the two sides did not go well, as after a strong first month with the club the right-hander was blown up to the tune of a 10.50 ERA in the month of May. While Brebbia’s numbers improved from there, he was still a well below average reliever by the results over the summer with a 5.40 ERA in 30 innings of work since the calendar flipped to June. With that being said, Brebbia’s peripherals do offer some room for optimism, particularly following that disastrous month of May.

Looking at his full season numbers, Brebbia has struck out a solid 26.9% of batters faced while walking 7.9% of opponents. That big strikeout rate has helped him to post a 3.40 SIERA this year, right in line with well-regarded late-inning arms such as Ryan Pressly (3.39 SIERA) and Carlos Estevez (3.41 SIERA). It’s not especially hard to see why advanced metrics would think Brebbia’s underlying performance has been better than the results would suggest, either. The right-hander’s .333 BABIP is much higher than his usual rate, and his 64% strand rate is shockingly low. Some of that can be explained by an elevated 14.8% of Brebbia’s fly balls leaving the yard for home runs. If Brebbia’s home run rate normalizes down the stretch, it’s easy to see how the veteran can be a valuable piece for the Atlanta bullpen as they look to lock down a spot in the postseason.

Making room for Brebbia on the club’s 40-man roster is Logue, who has spent the entire 2024 season with Atlanta’s minor league affiliates. The lefty has generally put up strong numbers in the minors this year, with a 2.68 ERA and a 23.5% strikeout rate in 90 2/3 innings swinging between the rotation and bullpen in Gwinnett. Those strong numbers this year are somewhat undercut by Logue’s past performance in the majors, however, as the southpaw owns a 6.88 ERA and 5.72 FIP in 68 innings of work at the big league level between the A’s and Tigers since he made his big league debut with Oakland back in 2022. Even so, it’s possible that a club could have interest in Logue on the waiver wire as a versatile depth option who throws from the left side, though any club who claims Logue would be unable to roster him headed into the postseason.

As for White, the 30-year-old was acquired from the Rangers in a cash deal during the 2022-23 offseason and after struggling in a brief cup of coffee with Atlanta this year looked solid in limited playing time with the club this year. In 15 games with the Braves this season, White owns a .261/.261/.522 slash line to go with a .294/.388/.447 line at the Triple-A level. White figures to provide the club with another depth option behind their current outfield mix of Michael Harris II, Jorge Soler, Jarred Kelenic, Ramon Laureano, and Adam Duvall.