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Luke Jackson Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Braves announced Wednesday that right-hander Luke Jackson underwent Tommy John surgery this morning. It was a widely expected move after Atlanta’s prior announcement that their longtime reliever had been diagnosed with a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. The Braves had already placed Jackson on the 60-day injured list, but today’s surgery formally closes the book on his 2022 season and, potentially, on his time with the organization. Jackson will be a free agent at season’s end.

Jackson’s loss is a notable one for the Braves, as the 30-year-old righty bounced back from a career-worst campaign in 2020 to post a career-best season in 2021. In 63 2/3 frames out of Brian Snitker’s bullpen last season, Jackson logged a a career-low 1.98 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate against an 11.1% walk rate. He yielded just six home runs on the season and racked up 31 holds on the year — second-most in all of Major League Baseball (behind Los Angeles’ Blake Treinen).

Notably, the Braves and Jackson haven’t even agreed on the right-hander’s salary for the 2022 season. A strange wrinkle from the 99-day lockout this offseason, there are still a handful of players throughout the league who exchanged figures with the team but have not yet settled on a deal. Jackson is among them, filing for a $4MM salary against the Braves’ filing of a $3.6MM sum. Arbitration salaries are based entirely on prior performance — they’re typically sorted in the offseason — and a potential arbitration hearing would only factor in Jackson’s prior performance rather than his current injury status.

Of course, one might wonder whether the Braves would try to now reengage on the possibility of a multi-year deal aimed at keeping Jackson at a lower price point in 2023 (and perhaps into 2024) than he’d have otherwise commanded. That’s purely speculative, but the Braves did put together a similarly structured deal for veteran reliever Kirby Yates this past winter.

If Jackson indeed simply reaches free agency as scheduled, he’d hit the open market at a time when teams know he could very well miss a month or two of the 2023 season. That doesn’t necessarily stop a Tommy John pitcher from securing a solid contract (as Yates and many others have proved), but it’d be an obvious dampener on what could’ve been some notable earning power for Jackson.

Even without Jackson, the Braves still ought to have a strong bullpen. Newcomers Kenley Jansen and Collin McHugh will join holdovers Will Smith, Tyler Matzek and A.J. Minter as experienced late-inning options. The aforementioned Yates is expected to rejoin the club at some point this summer, adding another All-Star-caliber arm to the mix. That’s not to diminish the importance Jackson held, but the Atlanta front office is surely glad to have bolstered the relief corps over the winter now that last year’s top setup option is done for the year.

Braves Select Jackson Stephens, Designate Jacob Webb

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The Braves announced this evening they’ve selected Jackson Stephens onto the big league roster. Mark Bowman of MLB.com first noted that Stephens had reported to the team. In a corresponding move, reliever Jacob Webb has been designated for assignment.

Stephens returns to the big leagues for the first time in four seasons. The 6’2″ right-hander broke into the majors in 2017 with the Reds, pitching 63 1/3 innings over two seasons. He posted just a 4.83 ERA with a subpar 19% strikeout rate and 36.7% ground-ball percentage, then spent the 2019 campaign in Triple-A. After electing minor league free agency, Stephens was unsigned for two seasons before returning in the Venezuelan Winter League last offseason.

The Alabama native starred in Venezuela, working to a 1.82 ERA in 49 1/3 innings en route to the league’s Pitcher of the Year award. The Braves were impressed enough by his form to add him on a minor league deal, and he worked his way back to the highest level after a lone outing with Triple-A Gwinnett. Stephens had worked almost exclusively as a reliever during his final couple seasons in the Reds system, but he pitched out of the rotation in Venezuela and worked six innings as a starter during his lone outing with the Stripers.

Atlanta selected prospect Bryce Elder to start tonight’s game, making his MLB debut in the process. Whether Elder will take a permanent rotation spot moving forward isn’t clear, and Stephens could be an option both for some stray starts or multi-inning relief work. The 27-year-old is out of minor league option years. Now that the Braves have brought him up to the majors, he has to stick on the active roster or be designated for assignment and made available to other clubs.

That’s the fate in which Webb now finds himself. The righty worked a career-high 34 1/3 innings with the World Series-winning club last season, his third straight campaign at the MLB level. He posted an excellent 1.06 ERA in 44 appearances over his first two seasons, but he missed significant time in both years. In 2019, Webb went down in August with a season-ending elbow impingement. The following year, he missed the first month and a half of the shortened schedule because of a shoulder strain.

Webb finally stayed healthy last season and managed decent results, pitching to a 4.19 ERA with a slightly below-average 21.6% strikeout rate. That belies an excellent 15.6% swinging strike percentage, however, as Webb has missed bats at a quality rate in all three of his MLB seasons. Atlanta had optioned Webb to Gwinnett to open the season, but he has yet to get in a game with the Stripers. He’s in his final option year, but another team could take a flier on him via waivers over the coming days given his decent track record.

Braves Select Bryce Elder, Designate Chadwick Tromp For Assignment

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The Braves have selected the contract of right-handed pitching prospect Bryce Elder in advance of tonight’s game, per a club announcement. Elder will start for the Braves and make his Major League debut. In a corresponding 40-man roster move, catcher Chadwick Tromp was designated for assignment. Atlanta also optioned lefty Tucker Davidson  and catcher William Contreras to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Elder, 22, somewhat incredibly becomes the second Braves draftee from the shortened, five-round 2020 amateur draft to reach the Majors. He and teammate Spencer Strider have both had meteoric rises through the minors and now represent two of the just five players from the 2020 draft already in the Majors. Elder (fifth round) and Strider (fourth) are the only non-first-rounders from that draft already in the Majors.

Looking at last year’s numbers, it’s perhaps not a shock that Elder was such a quick riser. He opened the 2021 season with 45 innings of 2.60 ERA ball against older competition in Class-A Advanced before tossing 56 frames of 3.21 ERA ball upon promotion to the Double-A level. Elder was then bumped to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he logged a 2.21 ERA in 36 2/3 frames despite being one of the youngest pitchers in the league.

Elder kept his strikeout rate above 27% the entire time and also posted ground-ball rates of at least 53.6% at each level, although command was more of a concern. Elder walked 57 of the 559 batters he faced (10.2%) and was particularly spotty in that regard against more advanced hitters at the Triple-A level (13.6%).

Baseball America ranks Elder sixth among Braves farmhands, noting that while the system has more powerful arms, Elder is the prototypical “pitchability” starter who’s a good bet to hold a spot in a rotation due to a five-pitch mix headlined by a sinker, plus slider and above-average changeup. Improving on his command will be key to further development for Elder, but he’ll have the opportunity to do so at the MLB level given the lack of proven starters for the Braves at the moment. Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson are all secure in their rotation spots, but Kyle Wright, Huascar Ynoa and Tucker Davidson have not yet solidified themself as long-term options. Mike Soroka, meanwhile, is on the shelf until this summer as he rehabs an Achilles injury.

As for the 27-year-old Tromp, he’ll lose his roster spot after four productive games in Gwinnett, where he’s gone 5-for-14 with a home run and a double. Tromp spent the bulk of the past two seasons in the Giants organization, batting .215/.220/.418 in a tiny sample of 82 Major League plate appearances. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from San Francisco last September. Tromp didn’t have a productive 2021 season in Triple-A, where he’s a career .254/.314/.412 hitter in parts of five seasons.

The Braves will have a week to trade Tromp, place him on outright waivers or release him. Teams are always on the lookout for catching depth, so there’s always a chance that a 27-year-old catcher with a pair of minor league options remaining will find a new home on the waiver wire.

Do The Braves Need Another Starter?

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Braves General Manager Alex Anthopolous struck out in his attempt to land a top-of-the-rotation arm during the offseason, he said recently on The Bill Shanks Show. Even without a fresh face at the top of the rotation, the Braves enter the season in pretty good hands with Max Fried and Charlie Morton leading the way.

The face of the Braves’ title defense season, however, may depend more on the next two arms in the rotation: Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson. If the young duo can fully establish themselves as mainstays in the rotation, the future in Atlanta is bright.

Anderson is further along than Wright at the moment, having made 24 starts in the 2021 season, finishing with a 3.58 ERA/4.12 FIP over 128 1/3 innings. He then made four starts in the postseason, all four of which the Braves won. In fact, over the past two postseasons, the Braves are 7-1 in games Anderson starts, while he owns a 1.26 ERA over 35 2/3 postseason innings. After 30 career regular-season starts, Anderson’s rotation spot is secure. The only question remaining relates to his ceiling.

Wright, meanwhile, made just two starts with the big league squad during the regular season, and then matched that total in the World Series alone, tossing 5 2/3 innings and serving up just one earned run. Wright should finally get his opportunity to stay in the rotation this year.

The final spot in the rotation is where the Braves were presumably looking to upgrade. Mike Soroka lurks somewhere in the organization, but he can hardly be counted on until proven healthy. For now, they will rely on a depth group that includes Huascar Ynoa, Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller, Touki Toussaint, and Bryce Elder. That group carries more upside than most depth stables, but for a team with aspirations of back-to-back titles, upside can mask inefficiency.

The Braves have won the division four years running, and they’re the defending World Series champions. To suggest that they need anything is premature. But with the Mets and Phillies both nipping hard at their heels, nothing is guaranteed. It’s certainly interesting to note that Anthopolous explored frontline rotation additions this offseason. As the season progresses and new names become available on the trade market, the Braves may again look to engage the trade market.

Braves Sign Delino DeShields To Minors Deal

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The Braves have signed outfielder Delino DeShields to a minor league deal, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was recently released by the Marlins, after signing a minor league deal with them and making a brief appearance in their spring camp.

DeShields, 29, has played in each of the past seven MLB seasons, garnering praise for his speed and outfield defense, but not offering a ton at the plate. He stole 106 bases across his first five seasons while playing for the Rangers, but only hit .246/.326/.342, wRC+ of 76. Still, he was able to provide 4.8 fWAR in that time due to his contributions on the grass.

The past two seasons, he’s gone into journeyman mode, spending time in the organizations of the Guardians, Red Sox, back to the Rangers, then the Reds and Marlins. Last year, he showed a bit more promise at the plate, putting up a Triple-A line of .252/.385/.366, 101 wRC+ and an MLB line of .255/.375/.426, 115 wRC+. That big league output is easily the best of his career, though it came in a small sample of just 58 plate appearances.

For the Braves, DeShields should bolster the club’s outfield depth, which is currently centered by Adam Duvall, who only had 31 games of center field experience coming into this season. They also have defensively-challenged corner outfielders in Eddie Rosario and Marcell Ozuna taking the field on a regular basis. That trio certainly adds a lot of pop to the lineup, but could also be giving runs back on the other side of the ball. Signing a glove-first player like DeShields will give them the ability to pivot to a different approach later.

Of course, all of this is temporary, as the club is just trying to tread water in the outfield until the return of superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. He is still in the process of working his way back from last year’s torn ACL injury. According to Justin Toscano of The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the team is “loosely targeting” April 25 for Acuna to start a rehab assignment in the minors. Acuna was primarily a center fielder in 2019 but gradually started spending more time in right field over the past two seasons. Having a healthy Acuna in center and bumping Duvall into a corner would probably be a best case scenario. However, due to the severity of the injury and his importance to the team, the Braves will surely give Acuna some time as designated hitter and occasional off days, even after he’s eligible to rejoin the big league team. With center field generally being a more demanding position to play than the corners, it’s possible they won’t consider Acuna up the middle at all this year. With that future uncertainty, and the natural grind of a baseball season that leads to both major and minor injuries, DeShields could prove to be a useful piece for the club down the road.

Braves Select Darren O’Day, Place Luke Jackson On 60-Day IL

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The Braves have announced that they have selected the contract of reliever Darren O’Day, who they had signed to a minor league deal in November. To make room on the 40-man roster, fellow reliever Luke Jackson was placed on the 60-day IL. Additionally, Kyle Muller was optioned to Triple-A.

O’Day, 39, is a veteran side-arming righty who made his MLB debut with the Angels back in 2008. After spending some time with the Mets and Rangers, he landed with the Orioles and stayed for his longest stretch with any one club, spending seven seasons in Baltimore from 2012 to 2018. He then spent two seasons with Atlanta before donning Yankee pinstripes last year, and will now rejoin the Braves this year.

Over his 587 1/3 career innings, he holds an ERA of 2.53, strikeout rate of 25.8% and walk rate of 6.8%, all excellent numbers. However, he was limited to just 10 2/3 innings last year due to various injuries. He had a player option that could have kept him in the Bronx this year with a $1.4MM salary, but he chose the $700K buyout instead. His deal with the Braves will guarantee him $1MM, meaning that he earned himself an extra $300K by opting for the buyout.

As for Jackson, his IL placement isn’t terribly surprising after yesterday’s news that he may require Tommy John surgery. Although that surgery is not yet guaranteed, this move assures that he will be out of action for at least a couple of months. The 30-year-old had a tremendous breakout season last year, throwing 63 2/3 innings of 1.98 ERA ball, helping the club win the NL West and eventually hoist the World Series trophy. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to build on that campaign due to this injury. The club has bolstered their bullpen this offseason with the additions of Collin McHugh and Kenley Jansen. With Jackson landing on the shelf, O’Day will step in as yet another veteran presence.

Luke Jackson Diagnosed With Damaged UCL

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The Braves received disheartening news regarding the health of reliever Luke Jackson, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter). The team announced MRI results that revealed damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, an injury that often results in Tommy John surgery.

Jackson will explore all the options before making a decision, but Tommy John surgery is certainly within the realm of possibility. In that case, Jackson would not be likely to return until sometime during the 2023 season.

The 30-year-old right-hander is coming off a breakout year for the World Champion Braves. Jackson made 71 appearances, logging 63 2/3 innings, and posted  a sparkling 1.98 ERA during the regular season. There may have been some bounces in Jackson’s favor, as fielding independent pitching marked his performance at 3.66 runs per nine innings. Regardless, he recorded a career-high 31 holds in 2021.

The Braves invested heavily in their bullpen this offseason, however, and ought to be able to weather the loss of Jackson. Kenley Jansen, Kirby Yates, and Collin McHugh were all added to the bullpen this winter to balance lefties Will Smith, Tyler Matzek, and A.J. Minter as late game options for Atlanta.

Braves Sign Preston Tucker To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed Preston Tucker to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from Double-A broadcaster Chris Harris (on Twitter). It’ll be the second stint in the organization for the now 31-year-old outfielder, who appeared in 80 games with the Braves back in 2018.

That stint marked Tucker’s most recent as a major leaguer. He preceded his younger brother Kyle Tucker in the Astros outfield, breaking in with Houston in 2015. The elder Tucker hit a serviceable .243/.297/.437 as a rookie, but he mustered only a .164/.222/.328 mark in 48 games the following season. After spending the entire 2017 campaign in Triple-A, Tucker split the 2018 season between the Reds and Braves.

Over parts of three MLB seasons, the left-handed hitter owns a .222/.281/.403 line. In 2019, he made the jump to the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization, kicking off a productive three-year run there. Tucker was one of the better players in the KBO during each of his first two seasons, following up a .311/.381/.479 debut showing with an even better .306/.398/.557 line in 2020.

Tucker’s production fell during his final season with the Gwangju-based Tigers. He managed just nine homers and a .113 isolated power (slugging minus batting average) in 539 plate appearances last season. His strikeout and walk numbers remained impressive, but Tucker’s results on batted balls evaporated en route to a .237/.334/.350 line. Nevertheless, Tucker still had a quality .284/.372/.466 mark in three KBO seasons.

He’ll now make the return to affiliated ball in hopes of getting back to the majors for the first time in four years. He’s strictly a corner outfield option, and the Braves already have Adam Duvall, Marcell Ozuna, Eddie Rosario and Alex Dickerson likely to receive playing time there. Travis Demeritte and the center field-capable Guillermo Heredia and Drew Waters are also on the 40-man roster (as, of course, is star Ronald Acuña Jr.). Tucker likely slots behind that group on the organizational depth chart, but he’ll have an opportunity to try to his play his way onto the radar with a productive high minors showing.

Brock Holt Granted Release From Braves

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The Braves announced this morning that veteran utilityman Brock Holt requested and was granted his release. He’d been in camp on a minor league deal in hopes of winning a roster spot in Atlanta but will now return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.

It’s common for veteran players to exercise out clauses and/or request their release in this manner late in Spring Training. Manager Brian Snitker tells reporters that Holt had been informed he would not make the team (Twitter link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and the club honored his request to explore other options. Veterans Phil Gosselin and Pat Valaika are still vying for a utility spot, Toscano adds.

Holt, 33, spent the 2021 season with the Rangers and appeared in 77 games, batting .209/.281/.298 in 260 trips to the plate. That rough season continued a downturn at the plate that began in 2020, but Holt still isn’t too far removed from a productive 2018-19 stretch in Boston that saw him slash .286/.366/.407 in a larger sample of 662 plate appearances.

A left-handed hitter known for his defensive versatility, Holt’s jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none skill set has found him consistent opportunities at the big league level dating back to 2014. He’s played every position on the diamond with the exception of catcher, including 2 1/3 innings on the mound. Holt’s work in center field is limited to just 75 innings, but beyond that he’s played at least 224 innings in both outfield corners and at all four infield slots.

With rosters expanding to 28 players for the early portion of the season, a versatile veteran with Holt’s overall track record at the plate — he’s a .262/.332/.362 hitter in 2661 MLB plate appearances — ought to have interest from other clubs. For what it’s worth, he went 3-for-9 with a home run, a double and a walk in his limited time with the Braves this spring.

Braves Notes: Rotation, Jackson, Freeman

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During last year’s World Series run, the Braves found themselves mixing and matching at the back of the rotation behind Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson. Atlanta hasn’t done much to solidify that group this winter, leaving themselves to again count on a handful of less-proven arms at the back end.

Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) over the weekend that righties Kyle Wright and Huascar Ynoa look like the favorites for the fourth and fifth spots. Ynoa always seemed to have a leg up after posting a 4.05 ERA/3.62 SIERA in 18 appearances last season. Wright, on the other hand, made just two regular season starts in the majors. The 26-year-0ld had a nice showing at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he worked 137 frames of 3.02 ERA ball. A former top five pick and highly-regarded prospect, Wright hasn’t yet had a ton of MLB success, but his minor league production and the quality of his arsenal still offer reason for Atlanta brass to believe in him as a long-term option.

The Braves are scheduled to play every day from their April 7 opener through April 20. With that heavy workload to start the year, Toscano writes the club could lean on a six-man starting staff early on. If that bears out, rookie Spencer Strider — who climbed four minor league levels last season to reach the majors in September — could assume the final spot, Toscano writes, with lefties Tucker Davidson and Kyle Muller also in that mix.

All those pitchers outside the Braves top three starters have minor league option years remaining, so any of that group could be sent back to Gwinnett throughout the season. They could also spill over into a multi-inning role out of the bullpen. Atlanta has one of the league’s strongest relief units on paper, but a key member has yet to pitch this spring.

Luke Jackson has been dealing with some forearm tightness, the team told reporters (including David O’Brien of the Athletic). The 30-year-old has been throwing on the side, so the Braves clearly aren’t concerned he’s facing a significant absence, but it’s not known whether he’ll have time to get into regular season game shape by next week. Jackson has been in the Atlanta bullpen for the past five years, but he had a particularly successful showing in 2021, pitching to a 1.98 ERA/3.75 SIERA in 63 2/3 frames.

While the Braves rotation looks much the same as it did last season, their position player shakeup was one of the stories of the offseason. Atlanta acquired Matt Olson and let Freddie Freeman walk in free agency. General manager Alex Anthopoulos and the front office were no doubt aware that decision would be a divisive one among the fanbase, and Freeman himself suggested in the immediate aftermath he was taken aback by the Olson trade. At his introductory press conference with the Dodgers, Freeman suggested Braves brass wasn’t as communicative as he’d expected they’d be throughout his stint on the open market. He also seemed to dismiss Anthopoulos’ assertion the Olson trade was the most difficult move of his executive career.

Chatting with the Journal-Constitution’s Gabriel Burns over the weekend, Freeman walked back those comments and took a brighter tone. The five-time All-Star said he chatted with the Braves baseball ops head last week and apologized for the comments he’d made at his introductory presser. “It helped to hear his side of things,” Freeman told Burns. “I won’t divulge what we talked about. But you can imagine what we talked about in three hours. It was good for us to now be good again. Now, when we see each other, we can just hug. I asked him to come to LA (for the series in April). I don’t think he was going to come to the LA series when they came out. I said, ‘Please, I want to see you and give you a hug because we did so many good things together.’”

Regardless of whether the fences are mended, the Braves and Dodgers figure to have plenty of memorable clashes over the coming seasons. The pair met in last year’s NL Championship Series, and they again look to be two of the top teams in the Senior Circuit. FanGraphs’ projections indeed forecast Los Angeles and Atlanta as the NL’s top two clubs heading into the year.

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