The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Jhancarlos Lara from Triple-A Gwinnett and designated infielder Jonathan Ornelas for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Right-hander Dane Dunning was optioned to Gwinnett to clear a spot on the active roster.
Lara, 22, has posted ugly minor league numbers this year but continues to intrigue scouts due to the quality of his raw stuff. He’s sitting 98.5 mph with his four-seamer in Triple-A and couples the pitch with a slider/cutter that ranges from the upper-80s to low-90s and generates plenty of whiffs. As is so often the case with power arms of this nature, command is an ongoing struggle for the 6’3″, 195-pound Lara.
In 68 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Lara has yielded a gruesome 7.73 earned run average. He’s actually been better at the higher of those two levels, working to a moderately better 6.53 ERA. Lara fanned over one-third of his opponents in Gwinnett but has issued walks at a brutal 19.8% clip at each of this year’s minor league stops.
Despite the poor command, Lara still sits 20th among Braves prospects at Baseball America, 21st at MLB.com and 25th at FanGraphs. Atlanta would’ve had to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft anyhow, so he’ll get an early promotion to the majors and get his first taste of big league opposition. Lara is, obviously, still very much a work in progress, but now that he’s on the 40-man roster, the Braves have at least three years to coax even passable command out of him. He’ll head into the 2026 season with a full slate of three minor league option years available to the major league club.
The 25-year-old Ornelas came to the Braves in a cash swap with the Rangers back in May. He’d been designated for assignment in Texas as well. The righty-swinging utilityman went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in his only two games with Atlanta. He’s spent the rest of his time since that May trade down in Gwinnett, where he’s slashed .193/.279/.325 in 333 trips to the plate.
Ornelas is just 11-for-53 in a tiny sample of 58 big league plate appearances, leading to an overall .208/.263/.245 batting line in the majors. He posted decent numbers in the lower minors but has struggled each year since being bumped to Triple-A. However, he’s a plus runner who can play quality defense at shortstop, third base and second base — and he’s gotten some reps in center field over the past few seasons as well.
Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Ornelas will head to outright waivers or be released. He’s in his final minor league option year, which will hurt his chances of being picked up by another club, as he’d need to break camp on the big league roster next spring or else be designated for assignment once again.
His stats aren’t good. As a braves fan I’m always wishing for the best for our players, but how did he even get the call up? What, we just think he’ll be better against major leaguers than he is minor leaguers? This is very, very puzzling, even for an end of the season cup of coffee.
Had to be selected to the 40-man this offseason to be protected from the Rule 5 anyhow, and they weren’t going to leave a 98-102 mph four-seamer and 60-grade slider unprotected (even if the command is obviously terrible right now).
Definitely has great velocity, and fantastic strike out ability, but that command, like you said is terrible. We could have went with someone who has shown great promise, and has succeeded every step up the ladder he has taken this year, JR Ritchie. Way more deserving of a spot than Lara!
They’re probably not trying to rush Ritchie because he’s got a legit chance to be a starter. Lara is a good with stuff who can’t really pitch, so you see what he can do against some MLB bats in a lost season and then maybe he ends up in the pen next year.
Ritchie doesn’t need to be added for another year, and if he shows in ST that he’s ready, they can always add him then.
Meanwhile, it’s basically no cost to add Lara a bit early (not even in danger of losing an option year), so adding him to the 40-man is fine. And if his command is indeed that much of a barrier to being effective, then it won’t be much of a deal to DFA him when they need the 40-man room.
Ritchie isn’t eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft this winter. It’s not about who’s the better prospect right now, it’s merely a case of 40-man management. Lara was going to be added in November anyway. He gives them some length this weekend — he’s been pitching in two- to four-inning stints lately. I guess you could say they should’ve gone with Blake Burkhalter, who’s also going to be added to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5 this winter, but he’s been working short relief for the past month.
Adding Ritchie right now would burn a 40-man roster spot for the entire offseason that they wouldn’t need to use. I’m sure Ritchie will be in the mix for a roster spot next spring, deservedly so, but from a pure roster management standpoint, there’s no sense adding him for the final 10 days of the season at the expense of jamming up a 40-man spot for the whole offseason.
Curious to see how many batters get HBP.