Padres Notes: Catcher, Musgrove, Snell
Padres catcher Austin Nola has struggled through a slow start to the season, perhaps still feeling the effects of a broken nose suffered when he was hit in the face by a Michael Fulmer fastball late in spring training. The 33-year-old is out to just a 3-for-29 start, and manager Bob Melvin conceded after last night’s game that the Padres “might need to do things a little differently” with regard to their catching setup (link via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). As Melvin points out, Nola enjoyed a strong spring before that unfortunate plunking; in 30 plate appearances he slashed .333/.487/.467.
Presumably, “differently” entails allotting more time to longtime top catching prospect Luis Campusano. The 24-year-old hasn’t exactly set the world on fire himself in this season’s small sample, going 4-for-16 with a double and five punchouts in 17 plate appearances. In parts of four seasons in the Majors, Campusano has received just 109 plate appearances and posted a .198/.239/.277 batting line. However, he’s also posted excellent batted-ball metrics (90.9 mph average exit velocity, 48.6% hard-hit rate) and owns a .296/.364/.511 batting line in 684 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s never been given a legitimate run as the team’s primary catcher.
To this point, Acee notes, Campusano has been the catcher for righty Michael Wacha and lefty Ryan Weathers, with Nola lining up behind the dish to catch Yu Darvish, Nick Martinez, Seth Lugo and Blake Snell. Whether the Friars will continue to deploy their catchers based on specific pitcher pairings remains to be determined, but Melvin’s comments suggest that Campusano is likely in for a larger workload to an extent.
As far as the rotation is concerned, the Padres have had to patch things together a bit with Joe Musgrove opening the season on the injured list due to a broken toe he suffered in the weight room during spring training. He’s already made one rehab start, but Musgrove landed awkwardly on his shoulder while making a play in the field during that start and had his second rehab start pushed back as a result. The right-hander had a cortisone injection in that shoulder earlier this week, and he’ll be evaluated again today, Melvin said earlier in the week (link via FriarWire’s Bill Center).
If things go well today, Musgrove could make a second rehab start as soon as tomorrow. Given that he already tossed 4 1/3 innings in his first rehab outing, Musgrove could plausibly be ready for activation following a second rehab appearance, although the team has not yet indicated whether the plan is for him to make two or three rehab starts. Even if Musgrove makes another pair of rehab appearances, he could still be in line for his season debut in the final week of April, assuming all goes well from a health vantage point.
Weathers and Lugo have exceeded expectations in joining the starting staff, but the Padres are surely eager to get Musgrove back nonetheless. Musgrove would’ve likely been in line to serve as San Diego’s Opening Day starter, but that title wound up going to lefty Blake Snell, who’s struggled through his first three starts of a contract season.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic spoke with Snell about those struggles, noting that the lefty began his offseason throwing program earlier than usual in hopes of shaking off some of his increasingly characteristic early-season struggles. Snell tells Lin that he’s made a concerted effort to throw more fastballs in an effort to “get out of my own way” and to remind him of the quality of his secondary pitches. “My curveball and slider are really good because of how good the fastball is,” says Snell.
Thus far, it hasn’t worked out in Snell’s favor. He’s lasted just 13 total innings across three starts, pitching to a 6.92 ERA while walking 10 of is 66 opponents (15.2%). Command and pitch efficiency have been issues for Snell throughout his career, which helps to explain his penchant for relatively short starts. (Snell has averaged just 5.09 innings per start in his career.)
Snell, the 2018 American League Cy Young winner with the Rays, has stumbled out of the gate in each of the past two seasons before ultimately righting the ship and dominating late in the year. In 2021, he pitched to a 5.44 ERA with a 14.3% walk rate in 19 starts through late July before rebounding with 44 1/3 innings of 1.83 ERA ball and an 8.4% walk rate over his final seven starts (44 1/3 innings). His 2022 season played out similarly: a 5.60 ERA and 12.2% walk rate through late June, followed by a 2.53 ERA, 35.1% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in his final 17 starts.
Snell’s raw abilities are unquestionable. He’s a former Cy Young winner who can miss bats at an elite rate and, when he’s at his best, look like one of the game’s best pitchers. His ability to reach those peak levels with any degree of consistency, however, are far more questionable. Nonetheless, that repeatedly demonstrated ability to overwhelm opposing lineups — however inconsistent it may be — is what landed him in the No. 10 spot on yesterday’s edition of MLBTR’s 2023-24 Free Agent Power Rankings.
If he’s able to uncage his dominant form earlier than usual, Snell has the potential to be one of the most in-demand arms on next offseason’s market. His all-too-familiar peaks and valleys may give teams trepidation even he can round into form sooner than later, but left-handers who throw 96 mph and punch out nearly 30% of their opponents don’t grow on trees. And, other clubs will surely have their own ideas about how to get Snell to tap into that No. 1 starter upside with more regularity.
Rays Select Braden Bristo, Option Taj Bradley
The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Braden Bristo from Triple-A Durham and optioned top pitching prospect Taj Bradley, who made his MLB debut against the Red Sox, back to Durham in his place. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay transferred righty Shane Baz from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Baz is recovering from September’s Tommy John surgery and could miss the entire season, so his move to the 60-day IL was a formality.
If the 28-year-old Bristo makes it into a game with the Rays, it’ll mark his big league debut after an eight-year minor league journey. The longtime Yankees farmhand was New York’s 23rd-round selection back in 2016, and he spent the next seven years climbing the ranks in their system. Bristo topped out at Triple-A in 2021-22 and never made it to the Majors with the Yanks, however. He elected minor league free agency at the end of the 2022 campaign.
In five innings with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham thus far, Bristo has yielded three runs on six hits with an appealing 7-to-1 K/BB ratio. He’s had little problem missing bats in parts of three Triple-A seasons overall, fanning a strong 27.3% of his opponents. His 12.8% walk rate in Triple-A, however, is far more concerning. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has previously noted Bristo’s high-spin curveball and a heater that can reach the mid-90s in short stints, but command has been an issue for Bristo in the upper minors — at least until this season. It’s a tiny sample, of course, but Bristo has walked just one of his 22 opponents so far.
For now, Bristo will give the Rays an extra arm in the ‘pen. Tampa Bay used Jalen Beeks as an opener in a bullpen game on Monday, and their ‘pen has covered a combined eight innings in the two games since.
Bradley won’t be able to return to the Majors for at least 10 days unless he’s recalled in place of someone who’s being placed on the injured list. Barring that scenario, yesterday’s MLB debut will go down as a spot start for Bradley, who ranks among the sport’s top 50 overall prospects. He tossed five innings against Boston and allowed three runs on five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.
Orioles Select Ryan O’Hearn, Designate Anthony Bemboom
The Orioles announced this morning that they have selected the contract of first baseman/corner outfielder Ryan O’Hearn from Triple-A Norfolk. In a corresponding move, the club has designated catcher Anthony Bemboom for assignment.
Baltimore acquired the 29-year-old O’Hearn from the Royals in exchange for cash back in early January, after he’d been designated for assignment in Kansas City. The O’s quickly passed O’Hearn through waivers themselves, gaining the right to retain him in Triple-A without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him. He’s now back on the 40-man roster and in the big leagues after a strong .300/.349/.725 start to his season in Norfolk. O’Hearn has collected four homers, three doubles and a triple in 43 plate appearances with the Tides thus far in 2023.
Early in his career, O’Hearn looked like a breakout candidate with the Royals. The 2014 eighth-rounder made his big league debut in 2018, posting a torrid .262/.353/.597 batting line and belting a dozen home runs in 170 plate appearances that season. He floundered in 41 plate appearances against fellow lefties, but O’Hearn looked to have the makings of a righty-mashing platoon option at first base.
Things haven’t panned out at all since that outstanding debut, however. The Royals repeatedly showed faith in the slugger, tendering contracts to him in each of the past two offseasons when he’d appeared to be a strong non-tender candidate. In 901 MLB plate appearances from 2019-22, O’Hearn mustered only a .211/.282/.351 batting line with a 26.9% strikeout rate against an 8.7% walk rate.
O’Hearn is being paid a $1.4MM salary in 2023 under the terms of that contract he agreed to with the Royals. He’ll be arbitration-eligible again next offseason if he sticks on the Orioles’ roster for the remainder of the season, although given his struggles since 2019, that’s far from a sure thing. For now, he’ll give them a lefty bat off the bench who can mix in at designated hitter, first base or in either of the outfield corners. The vast majority of his defensive innings as a pro have come at first base (5248 innings), but between the big leagues and the minors, O’Hearn does have a combined 498 innings in left field and 546 innings in right field.
Turning to the 33-year-old Bemboom, he’s appeared in just two games this season and gone 0-for-2 with a walk in three plate appearances. The journeyman backstop has 78 Major League games under his belt, with a tepid .158/.233/.262 batting line through 206 plate appearances along the way.
Bemboom has served as a backup option with the Angels, Rays and O’s over the years, and while his big league production isn’t much to look at, he does carry a more palatable .247/340/.392 slash in just shy of 1100 plate appearances over the course of 291 Triple-A games. He’s generally drawn above-average framing marks, boasts a strong career 34% caught-stealing rate (MLB and minors combined), and has a career mark of 3 Defensive Runs Saved in 513 big league innings behind the dish.
The O’s will have a week to trade Bemboom or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, Bemboom would have the right to reject an outright assignment, although the O’s agreed to a split big league deal with him last October that presumably comes with a larger rate of pay in Triple-A than he might otherwise receive upon rejecting an assignment and electing minor league free agency. That was seemingly done in large part because the O’s value him as a depth option and want to incentivize him to stick around even if he’s not on the 40-man roster.
Cubs Sign Ian Happ To Extension
The Cubs have kept one of the top impending free agents off the market. Chicago announced a three-year extension with outfielder Ian Happ covering the 2024-26 seasons. It’s reportedly a $61MM guarantee and contains a full no-trade clause. Happ receives a $3MM signing bonus, successive $20MM salaries in 2024-25, and an $18MM salary in 2026.
It’s a frankly surprising deal for the player, given Happ’s proximity to the open market. He was set to reach free agency this offseason and would’ve done so at a relatively young age, as the 2024 campaign will be just his age-29 season. Recent open-market deals for free-agent corner outfielders suggest that Happ had a strong case for a lengthier and more lucrative deal than the one he inked to remain in Chicago. Kyle Schwarber (four years, $79MM), Nick Castellanos (five years, $100MM) and Andrew Benintendi (five years, $75MM) all topped that mark within the past two offseasons alone. Michael Conforto received a $36MM guarantee and a conditional opt-out clause last offseason after not playing a single game in the preceding season.
Happ is younger than Schwarber and Castellanos were in free agency, healthier and younger than Conforto was, and has a superior offensive track record to Benintendi. Granted, he strikes out more often and hits for a lower average, but Happ also reaches base more frequently and has a good bit more power than Benintendi. Dating back to the 2019 season, he’s a .254/.341/.461 hitter with 66 home runs, 84 doubles, five triples, 22 stolen bases, a 10.9% walk rate and a 26% strikeout rate in 1608 trips to the plate.
By measure of wRC+, Happ has been 18% better than league-average over that span and 20% better than average in three of those four individual seasons. He’s substantially pared back his strikeout tendencies throughout his career, going from a sky-high 36.1% clip back in 2018 to a far more palatable 23.2% in 2022 (and 24.4% so far in 2023). Happ also enjoyed a career year with the glove in ’22, turning in a whopping 13 Defensive Runs Saved in left field. That netted him his first Gold Glove, and the overall strength of his 2022 performance sent him to his first All-Star Game last summer as well.
Beyond the recent contracts for fellow corner outfielders and Happ’s generally strong performance, the extension is surprising given the context of next winter’s free-agent class, which is set to be a decidedly pitcher-heavy group of names. After Rafael Devers and Manny Machado signed massive nine-figure extensions, Happ represented one of the best bats slated to reach the market, joining names like Teoscar Hernandez and Matt Chapman.
Happ’s contract certainly affords him a market-commensurate annual value for a player of this skill set, but it’s nonetheless a surprise to see him sign a short-term deal that delays his first trip to free agency until the completion of his age-31 season. Happ surely placed value on remaining with the only team he’s ever known, in the city he’s come to call home, and with the teammates he’s embraced as family. Ultimately, all contract extension of this nature are life-changing money that will set a player for generations, and even if the market was quite likely to bear a greater sum next winter, it’s easy enough to understand the allure from a pure human-interest standpoint.
From a team vantage point, the Cubs are surely thrilled to be able to retain a popular, productive core player without committing to a the lengthier market norms. Happ is the second member of the team’s core to delay his path to free agency with an atypically short deal, joining Nico Hoerner, whose recent three-year, $35MM contract extension bought out only one free-agent season. The Cubs are buying purely prime-aged years in both instances.
The Cubs already had about $127MM on the 2024 books, so Happ’s extension will likely push them to around $147MM in total commitments — assuming even distribution of salary over the three would-be free-agent years. The bulk of those commitments will come off the books the following season. In 2025-26, the Cubs will now have roughly $100MM committed to a quintet of players: Happ, Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Jameson Taillon and Seiya Suzuki. For a team that’s previously topped $200MM in player payroll and lays claim to one of the most lucrative revenue streams in the sport, that ought to leave plenty of room for additional supplementation of that core via the free-agent market, trade market or by extending additional homegrown players in the same manner as they’ve done with Hoerner and now Happ.
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation was first to report the Cubs and Happ were in agreement on a three-year, $61MM extension. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was first to report the no-trade clause and the specific salary structure.
Rockies Place German Marquez On Injured List
The Rockies are placing righty German Marquez on the 15-day injured list, Marquez himself told reporters prior to today’s game (Twitter link via Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette). Marquez, who exited yesterday’s game due to forearm discomfort, has avoided any structural damage it seems. An MRI revealed only inflammation in his ailing forearm, but he’ll still be shelved for a bit to allow for some rest. A more precise timetable for his recovery has not yet been provided by the team. Corner infielder/outfielder Nolan Jones has been recalled from Triple-A to take Marquez’s spot on the active roster for now.
Marquez and lefty Kyle Freeland have been the Rockies’ only two effective starters thus far in the season, and an absence for him will place even further strain on a starting staff that has combined for a 5.07 ERA in its first 60 1/3 frames. Lefty Austin Gomber and righties Ryan Feltner and Jose Urena have combined to allow 24 runs in 25 1/3 innings over their collective six starts so far in 2023.
The Rockies’ options beyond Marquez are relatively thin. Antonio Senzatela is already on the injured list while rehabbing from last year’s ACL tear, and southpaw Ryan Rolison is rehabbing from last summer’s shoulder surgery. Relievers Ty Blach and Connor Seabold are both stretched out for multiple innings already and both have experience as starters. Triple-A righties Peter Lambert and Noah Davis are on the 40-man roster. Lambert has missed significant time due to injury in recent years and hasn’t had much success at the big league level. Davis has just one Major League frame under his belt.
Marquez has been the team’s most consistent starter since 2017, pitching to a cumulative 4.38 ERA in 991 1/3 frames over 169 starts during that time. He’s been one of the game’s most durable starters in that stretch, ranking fourth among all MLB pitchers in terms of games started.
Marquez is playing out the final guaranteed season of a five-year, $43MM contract extension he agreed to back in April of 2019. He’s earning a $15MM salary this season, and the Rox hold a $16MM club option over him with a $2.5MM buyout. So long as he’s healthy, that option seems like a fairly straightforward decision to exercise.
Mariners Select Darren McCaughan, Designate Brennan Bernardino
11:01am: The Mariners announced that they’ve selected the contract of McCaughan. To open space on the active roster, righty Jose Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A. Lefty Brennan Bernardino has been designated for assignment to open space on the 40-man roster.
Bernardino, 31, parlayed a strong showing in the Mexican League into his big league debut with Seattle in 2022. The lefty had been out of affiliated ball since a 2019 run in the minors with Cleveland but posted a 2.20 ERA in 32 2/3 frames with Triple-A Tacoma last season. He yielded three runs in 2 1/3 innings during his brief MLB debut but remained on Seattle’s 40-man roster throughout the winter.
Unfortunately, the 2023 season has begun on a sour note for the journeyman southpaw. In six innings, he’s been slammed for 11 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits, a walk and a hit batter. Two of those hits have been home runs. Bernardino still possesses a strong 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in his brief showing this year, but the bottom-line results are nevertheless unsightly.
The Mariners will have a week to trade Bernardino or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
10:55am: The Mariners are expected to select the contract of right-hander Darren McCaughan from Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll give them a fresh arm in the bullpen after a stretch of games in which they’ve leaned heavily on their relief corps.
The 27-year-old McCaughan has spent his entire career in the Mariners organization. Selected in the 12th round of the 2017 draft, he briefly appeared with Seattle in 2021, tossing nine innings but being tagged for eight runs. He’s spent parts of five seasons with Triple-A Tacoma, pitching to a 4.97 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.6% walk rate in 331 1/3 frames. He’s been tagged for six earned runs in 10 innings so far in 2023.
McCaughan has worked almost exclusively out of the rotation in his pro career and made two starts in Triple-A thus far, but the Mariners will presumably turn to him as a potential long man in the ‘pen in the event of a short start from Logan Gilbert today. Seattle has an off-day Thursday, which should further help in giving what’s presently a taxed bullpen a bit of a breather. Dating back to Friday, the Mariners’ bullpen has racked up 22 2/3 innings over the course of five games, owing to a combination of extra-innings contests and short starts from the rotation. McCaughan’s last start came on April 7, so he’s fully rested and would be able to give the Mariners several innings today if needed.
Seattle’s 40-man roster is currently full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move in order to get McCaughan to the big league roster.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Cubs Notes: Assad, Suzuki
The Cubs optioned righty Javier Assad to Triple-A yesterday when recalling outfielder Nelson Velasquez, and Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the current plan for Assad is to stretch him out for rotation work down in Iowa. Manager David Ross didn’t rule out Assad returning in a bullpen role for the big league club at some point, but the 25-year-old Assad impressed as a starter both in the minors and the big leagues last season.
Last season, Assad split his time between Double-A, Triple-A and the Majors. He logged a combined 2.66 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate in 108 1/3 minor league frames, with all but two of his 23 appearances coming out of the rotation. In nine big league appearances, Assad made eight starts and turned in an overall 3.11 ERA through 37 2/3 frames. His 18.1% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate were well off his minor league pace, and that ERA looks generally unsustainable without some gains in one or both areas, but it was an impressive debut regardless. He also tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings for Mexico during the World Baseball Classic, fanning six opponents against just one walk.
As things stand, there’s no open spot in the rotation for Assad. Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, Drew Smyly and fellow 25-year-old Hayden Wesneski have those five starting spots locked down. Veteran Adrian Sampson and righty Caleb Kilian have both struggled in their first pair of Triple-A starts, however, and while that alone may not change their status as the next men up in the event of an injury, it’d become a greater concern if those struggles prove to be prolonged. Stretching Assad back out gives the Cubs a potentially viable alternative. Kyle Hendricks‘ recovery from 2022 shoulder surgery is also worth monitoring, but he’s still building up and is not yet facing live hitters.
Turning to the lineup, it seems the Cubs could welcome back a key bat soon, as Ross also laid out a best-case scenario that sees Seiya Suzuki return to the club as soon as this weekend (Twitter link via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Sun-Times). Suzuki has played in a pair of minor league games and tallied seven plate appearances already. A return this weekend would leave him a bit shy of the total number of plate appearances he’d pile up over the course of a full spring training, but he could still have 20-30 trips to the plate under his belt if he plays regularly with Iowa this week and is activated at some point this weekend.
An oblique strain suffered in the early stages of spring training kept Suzuki on the shelf throughout Cactus League play and into the regular season. Signed in the 2021-22 offseason to a five-year, $85MM contract, the now-28-year-old right fielder turned in a solid .262/.336/.433 batting line with 14 home runs, 22 doubles, a pair of triples and nine stolen bases (in 14 attempts) as a Major League rookie last year. A quality batted-ball profile and strong finish to his ’22 season led to some optimism that the longtime NPB star could take a step forward in his sophomore MLB campaign, but those efforts have been placed on hold for the season’s first couple weeks.
White Sox Place Tim Anderson On Injured List
The White Sox announced Tuesday that shortstop Tim Anderson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprain in his left knee. He’s expected to miss between two and four weeks of action, per the team. Infielder Lenyn Sosa is up from Triple-A Charlotte to take Anderson’s spot on the active roster.
Anderson appeared to suffer the injury during yesterday’s game against the Twins, when he attempted to corral an errant throw from Hanser Alberto in a poorly executed rundown between second and third base (video link). He originally remained in the game and finished out the inning, but Anderson was later lifted for a pinch-hitter.
The 29-year-old Anderson is out to a nice start, batting .298/.327/.404 and a perfect 5-for-5 showing in stolen bases to begin his 2023 campaign. His injury will likely slide Elvis Andrus over to shortstop or possibly open the door for Sosa to take some reps at the position. If it’s indeed Andrus taking the reins at short, as he did in 2022 when Anderson was injured, then second base reps will fall to a combination of Sosa, Alberto and Romy Gonzalez.
Any absence is notable for Anderson, who’s steadily been one of the best-hitting shortstops in the game for the past four years. Dating back to 2019, Anderson has posted at least a .301 batting average, .338 on-base percentage and .395 slugging percentage in every season. He’s a collective .317/.346/.471 hitter in just shy of 1700 plate appearances dating back to 2019, and his 122 wRC+ in that time (indicating he’s been 22% better than an average hitter after weighting for home park and league run-scoring environment) trails only six other shortstops: Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Bo Bichette and Corey Seager.
Injuries have regularly hampered the White Sox over the past several seasons, and Anderson now becomes the second key member of the lineup on the injured list, joining slugger Eloy Jimenez, who’s expected to be sidelined into late April with a low-grade hamstring strain. The Sox are also currently missing relievers Liam Hendriks, Garrett Crochet, Joe Kelly and Matt Foster.
The Sox made the easy call to pick up a $12.5MM option on Anderson at the end of the 2023 season, and they’ll have a $14MM option or $1MM buyout over his 2024 campaign as well. Given Anderson’s overall track record, it’s hard to imagine Sox buying him out. The presence of that option at least makes it worth keeping a close eye on how Anderson recovers from this issue, but a one-year deal at that rate remains a relative bargain for a player of his caliber, so long as he’s healthy.
Ian Anderson To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
11:02am: Anderson will indeed undergo Tommy John surgery, Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN report (via Twitter). He’ll miss the remainder of the 2023 season.
Because Anderson was diagnosed with the injury after being optioned and making a start with Gwinnett, he’ll presumably head to the minor league injured list for now. However, if the Braves need to open a 40-man roster spot at any point, he can be recalled from Gwinnett and placed on the Major League 60-day IL.
That move, however, would entitle Anderson to big league service time. He started the year with two years and 46 days of MLB service, so if he spends 126 days or more on the MLB injured list, he’ll surpass three years of Major League service time, pushing up his path to free agency. If he spends fewer than 126 days on the big league injured list, he’d remain under club control for an additional four seasons.
10:56am: The Braves placed Ian Anderson on the minor league injured list due to an elbow issue last week, and while the team hasn’t formally announced a diagnosis or treatment plan, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that Tommy John surgery is a possibility for the right-hander. That’d of course point to a ligament issue for Anderson, though the extent and placement of any damage would impact the eventual course of treatment.
Regardless of the outcome, if surgery is indeed a consideration, that’s indicative of an absence of note for Anderson, a former No. 3 overall pick (2016) and Rookie of the Year candidate who has fallen out of Atlanta’s rotation picture in the wake of some 2022 struggles. Anderson, still just 24 years old, broke out with a combined 3.25 ERA in 160 2/3 innings between the 2020-21 seasons, grabbing hold of a rotation spot in Atlanta and staking a claim to a long-term place on the starting staff.
The 2022 season, however, marked a step back in just about every facet of Anderson’s game. The righty was tagged for an unsightly 5.00 ERA in 111 2/3 innings as his fastball velocity, strikeout rate, walk rate, ground-ball rate, exit velocity and hard-hit rate all trended in unfavorable directions. Anderson was also tagged for 13 earned runs in 21 2/3 Triple-A innings last season, and he followed a rocky 2023 spring training (five earned runs on five hits and eight walks in 7 1/3 innings) with a disastrous first outing with Triple-A Gwinnett. In his lone appearance of the 2023 season there, Anderson faced nine batters and yielded three home runs and two walks while also being charged with a pair of wild pitches.
If Anderson indeed needs surgery — be Tommy John surgery, an internal brace or any other type of elbow procedure — that’ll provide the Braves with a notable blow to their rotation depth. Atlanta has been without Kyle Wright thus far, though he’s slated to make his season debut today. Ace Max Fried is currently on the injured list owing to a hamstring strain. Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider have two starting spots spoken for, and Bryce Elder has delivered a pair of strong outings as well. Rookie southpaws Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd have both been hit hard in their MLB debuts (two starts apiece).
As things stand, the Braves can hope for a swift return from Fried, which would set the stage for a rotation of him, Strider, Wright, Morton and Elder, with Shuster and Dodd continuing to develop in Gwinnett. Oft-injured righty Michael Soroka is also hoping for a big league return and is in the Gwinnett rotation, but he’s building up his pitch count presently and threw just 38 innings between the minors and big leagues combined from 2020-22. Soroka is on the mound this morning and has already tossed two innings for Gwinnett as of this writing, but it remains to be seen when he’ll be considered for the Major League staff.