Charlie Culberson

The Braves have released Charlie Culberson, as per the team’s official MLB.com transactions log.  Culberson rejoined the Braves on a minor league deal back in January, and was attempting to transition to pitching after 17 pro seasons (including 11 in the majors) as a utilityman.

This doesn’t appear to be the end of the line for Culberson’s career, as he told Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he will continue to seek out more playing opportunities.  Culberson turns 35 next month, though he indicated in another interview with Toscano last month that he wasn’t yet leaning towards retirement.

Culberson has a .248/.294/.386 slash line over 1312 career plate appearances, and he has played for five different teams at the MLB level since making his debut with the Giants back in 2012.  This includes 231 games over what is technically six different stints with the Braves, since Culberson has signed four separate minor league contracts with Atlanta over the last year.  The Braves twice designated Culberson for assignment and he chose free agency rather than an outright assignment, though Culberson quickly rejoined the organization on a new contract.

The transactional shuffles were part of an odd year overall for Culberson, who played in only 27 games with Triple-A Gwinnett and in exactly one game at the Major League level.  Atlanta’s tendency to rarely rest its star players meant that Culberson simply didn’t have much opportunity to get playing time, despite several months on the Braves’ active roster.  This made 2023 a “tough” season for Culberson, as he told Toscano, and it partially inspired his decision to try pitching as a different way of providing value to a big league roster.

Culberson has made eight mop-up appearances (totaling 7 1/3 innings) as a pitcher over the years, in addition to his much lengthier resume at all four infield positions, as a left fielder, and a handful of games in right field.  He has topped 100 plate appearances in only six of his 12 Major League seasons, though Culberson did get 271 PA and 90 appearances as recently as 2021 when he playing for a rebuilding Rangers team.

Over three Spring Training appearances this year, Culberson made three appearances on the mound and was charged with six earned runs over two innings of work.  Obviously there were going to be some bumps in the road for Culberson as he pursued his new position, and it remains to be seen if he’ll continue to experiment with a pitching career or if he might return to his familiar utility role if another team needs some position-player depth.  While another contract with the Braves wouldn’t be a surprise if the Georgia native wants to stay close to home, Culberson’s desire to actually play seems to be clashing with Atlanta’s loaded roster.

Charlie Culberson has re-signed with the Braves on a minor league deal and will report to minor league camp as a pitcher, per reports from Jon Heyman of The New York Post and Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Culberson, 35 in April, has served as a utility player in the majors for over a decade now. He debuted with the Giants back in 2012 and has since suited up for the Rockies, Dodgers, Braves and Rangers, getting into 590 games in his career. He’s never been a huge threat at the plate, having hit .248/.293/.385 overall for a wRC+ of 76, but he has generally received strong defensive grades while lining up at every position on the diamond except catcher and center field.

That includes some brief stints on the mound, which have gone well. He has tossed 7 1/3 innings over his eight appearances in the big leagues, allowing just one earned run, three walks and seven hits while striking out one opponent. He also made four appearances in Triple-A last year, allowing two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, with five strikeouts and two walks. As noted by Toscano, Culberson was clocked at 93.7 miles per hour in an appearance back in 2018. In Triple-A last year, he hit 93.1.

Perhaps focusing on pitching full-time will allow him to push that velocity further, or maybe it will be harder for him to maintain it with a larger workload. Attempting to suddenly become a pitcher on the cusp of one’s 35th birthday is obviously an unusual path but there’s some logic to it for Culberson. He would have been hard-pressed to find a meaningful role as a utility player going forward. In 2023, he had two separate month-long stints on the big league roster in Atlanta but received just one major league plate appearance for the year. Incidentally, he got a single and finished the year with a slash line of 1.000/1.000/1.000 and a wRC+ of 475. But instead of languishing on the bench or in the minors again, he’ll take a different path.

It will also be fun storyline for supporters of the club. Culberson has become something of a fan favorite over his many stints with Atlanta and he’ll now set his sights on a new and surprising task.

Charlie Culberson is back with the Braves, as the veteran’s MLB.com profile page reveals that the veteran utilityman has signed a new minor league deal with the team.  Culberson was designated for assignment and outrighted off Atlanta’s 40-man roster within the last week, and he elected to become a free agent on Thursday.

This is the second time in a little over a month that Culberson was DFA’ed and outrighted, and then went into free agency only to shortly re-sign with the Braves.  It continues a curious 2023 season for the veteran, who has spent over two months on Atlanta’s active roster with only a single in-game appearance — a pinch-hit single on July 16, in an 8-1 Braves loss to the White Sox.  Since the Braves’ core of position players have been so generally durable and overall impressive this season, there simply hasn’t been much playing time available for any of the bench players, let alone a proverbial 26th man like Culberson.

Still, the organization obviously has a kinship with Culberson, who previously played for the Braves from 2018-20 and hails from nearby Rome, Georgia.  He’ll head to Triple-A Gwinnett for now, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back on the active roster sooner than later, even if trade deadline acquisition Nicky Lopez will now be Atlanta’s top backup infield option.

With at least one game played this year, Culberson has now been a part of 11 different Major League seasons since debuting with the Giants in 2012.  Culberson has hit .248/.294/.386 over 1312 career plate appearances, appearing in 586 games with the Giants, Rockies, Dodgers, Rangers, and Braves while getting significant playing time at every position except catcher and center field.

Aug. 3: Culberson has rejected his outright assignment in favor of free agency, reports Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He’s now free to sign with any club, although it’s certainly possible that he’ll return to the Braves on a new minor league contract — just as he did back in June, following his last DFA and subsequent outright.

Aug. 2: The Braves announced this afternoon that utilityman Charlie Culberson was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. He went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday.

Culberson has had a very atypical season. The Braves have carried him on the MLB roster for around two months over a pair of stints. Remarkably, he’s only appeared in one big league game during that stretch — singling as a pinch-hitter on July 16. Culberson is clearly a well-liked figure in the Atlanta clubhouse, but they’d had little desire to get him onto the field around a star-studded infield.

The Braves acquired Nicky Lopez from the Royals last week to serve as a glove-first depth infielder. That pushed Culberson off the roster for the second time this season. Last time, he elected free agency but quickly returned to the organization on a minor league contract. He’ll again have the right to test free agency after clearing waivers.

Culberson has struggled in a limited look with Gwinnett this season, hitting .204/.234/.255 in 34 games. He’s appeared in 11 MLB seasons as a bench player. He’s a career .283/.311/.429 hitter against left-handed pitching but has a .218/.278/.349 line versus righties.

The Braves assigned veteran infielder Charlie Culberson to the minors earlier today but Culberson rejected the assignment and elected free agency, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Culberson had been designated for assignment last week to make room for catcher Chadwick Tromp on the club’s roster.

Culberson’s stint with the Braves this season was an odd one. The 34-year-old veteran signed a minor league deal with the Braves this past offseason and saw his contract selected back in May, but did not make a single appearance for the Braves in nearly a month on the active roster. Considering Culberson found himself unable to make it into a game in the majors with Atlanta even as a member of the 26-man roster, it’s far from a surprise that Culberson has departed his hometown organization in hopes of securing a minor league deal in elsewhere.

Since being selected by San Francisco in the first round of the 2007 draft, Culberson has suited up for the Dodgers, Rangers, and Rockies during his career in addition to the aforementioned Giants and Braves. Overall, the veteran of ten major league seasons sports a career .248/.293/.386 slash line in 1,311 trips to the plate.

Primarily a third baseman, Culberson also offers experience at shortstop, second base, first base, and left field that could make him an interesting veteran utility option for an infield-needy club looking to add depth to their upper minors. That being said, Culberson struggled in 107 trips to the plate with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett this season. In 24 games with the club, the veteran infielder slashed just .204/.237/.255, a weak performance that could cause interested clubs to prefer internal depth options to Culberson’s services.

As for the Braves, the club currently sports no reserve infielders on the active roster as they carry a bench of Tromp, Travis d’Arnaud, Sam Hilliard, and Kevin Pillar. That leaves them likely to require an active roster move should any of Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, or Matt Olson require a day off. Should that come to pass, the club has Braden Shewmake, Vaughn Grissom, and Luke Williams in Triple-A as infield options who are already on the 40-man roster.