Braves Claim Dereck Rodríguez, Transfer Kyle Wright To 60-Day IL
The Braves announced that they have claimed right-hander Dereck Rodríguez off waivers from the Twins and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Fellow righty Kyle Wright was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Rotation depth has suddenly become a serious issue for the Atlanta club. Both Max Fried and Kyle Wright have landed on the injured list recently, with the former battling a forearm strain and the latter a lingering shoulder issue. The reported plan for Fried is for him to be shut down long enough that he will then have to effectively rebuild from scratch, suggesting a potential absence of a couple of months. Last week, Wright said he is expecting to be out of action even longer than Fried, so it’s not a shock to see him land on the 60-day injured list today. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was on May 4, ruling him out officially until early July.
Those injuries have cast a spotlight on the club’s starting mix, which is down to three primary members in Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder. The club has some depth starters on its 40-man roster that it could call upon, but it doesn’t seem like Michael Soroka will be up in the immediate future. He’s still looking to get into a consistent rhythm after hardly pitching since 2019 due to various injuries, including a pair of Achilles ruptures. Mark Bowman of MLB.com recently spoke to manager Brian Snitker about Soroka, though it doesn’t seem as though the club is going to let the recent injuries to Fried and Wright alter their approach to Soroka’s return to action. Other options on the roster include Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster, though neither fared especially well in their brief major league looks earlier this year. Ian Anderson won’t be an option for the rest of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last month.
All of those question marks give the club a significant challenge in navigating the next couple of months, which is surely what led to the claim of Rodríguez. The right-hander who turns 31 next month had a solid debut season with the Giants in 2018 but has struggled since. That first season in the bigs saw him post an ERA of 2.81 in 118 1/3 innings, but his ERA jumped to 5.64 in the following season. He’s only been able to scratch out sporadic major league outings since then, appearing in five games since the start of 2020.
He’s spent the past couple of seasons bouncing on and off the Twins’ roster. He was twice selected to join the club in 2022, once in April and once in September, making one appearance before getting quickly designated for assignment in each case. He returned to the organization on another minor league deal this winter and was added to the 40-man a couple of weeks ago. He pitched two thirds of an inning on Friday before getting optioned back to Triple-A. It wasn’t publicly reported that he was designated for assignment but the Twins evidently tried to pass him through waivers in recent days, which led to today’s claim.
Prior to getting called up to the big leagues this year, he had made seven appearances for the St. Paul Saints, tossing 19 1/3 innings with a 4.66 ERA while striking out 23.5% of batters faced against an 11.8% walk rate. In 94 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year, he had a 4.75 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. He’ll head to Gwinnett and will presumably be competing with the likes of Dodd and Shuster for roles in the majors over the coming months. The big league club is still in first place in the National League East but have lost four in a row and seem less of a lock in that division than they did a week ago.
Kyle Wright Expecting To Miss Significant Time
Braves right-hander Kyle Wright spoke to members of the media today, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, saying that he expects to remain on the injured list longer than his teammate Max Fried. He doesn’t provide a specific estimate but it’s a notable guess given that there was no previous timeline for Wright and the reported plan for Fried is to shut him down for long enough that he’ll need to completely build back up from scratch.
The club hasn’t provided any kind of specifics for what they expect for the two hurlers, but Mark Bowman of MLB.com interprets the situation by saying that the “expectation has been” that they will miss two months while O’Brien says that it appears Wright isn’t likely to be back until August.
The details are all murky at the moment but there seems to be little doubt that the club will be proceeding without two of its best starters for some significant amount of time that will likely be measured in months rather than days or weeks. The 27-year-old Wright got very limited big league action from 2018 to 2021 but had a breakout last year, posting a 3.19 ERA in 180 1/3 innings over 30 starts. He struck out 23.6% of batters faced while walking 7.2% and getting grounders at a 55.6% clip.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on that here this year, beginning the season on the injured list due to this shoulder issue. He was activated off the IL and made five starts but it’s now apparent that he wasn’t right in that time. His 93.6 mph fastball velocity was well down from last year’s 95.1 and he posted a 5.79 ERA.
Atlanta came into the season with a strong front four in its rotation, with Fried and Wright joined by Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider. The fifth spot was left open and Bryce Elder has seemingly taken the job over in recent weeks, posting a 1.74 ERA in seven starts so far this year. The club will now need to find replacements for Fried and Wright for the foreseeable future, with their depth having also taken a hit earlier this year when Ian Anderson required Tommy John surgery.
Options on the 40-man roster include lefties Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster as well as righty Michael Soroka. The two lefties have each made a few starts in the big leagues this year but Dodd has a 6.46 ERA in his three outings whereas Shuster has an 8.31 ERA in his two. Soroka has hardly pitched at all since the 2019 season, mostly due to twice tearing his achilles tendon. He’s made five Triple-A starts this year, logging 20 2/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA in a once-a-week pitching schedule.
Looking outside the organization doesn’t provide many enticing options. Most teams are reluctant to part with valuable players at this time of the year when it’s too early for most to raise a white flag and start selling. Some players decently designated for assignment include Chase Anderson, Luis Cessa and Chase De Jong.
NL East Notes: Nola, Strahm, Suarez, Mets, Wright
Phillies starter Aaron Nola will go into the off-season as one of the top available free agent pitchers, but Philadelphia’s expected to make a strong push to re-sign him, according to a report from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.
It’s reported that the Phillies had at least some discussion with Nola this past winter about an extension, but their offer – which came in north of $100MM but south of the $162MM Carlos Rodon received from the Yankees – clearly didn’t get the job done. Heyman adds that Nola prefers a return to Philadelphia, and while 29 other teams could make a run at him in the winter, the Phillies will likely try again to keep him in town.
Nola’s off to a slower start than usual this year, working to a 4.64 ERA through his first seven starts, but has been one of the game’s most durable pitchers in recent seasons. He’s made more than 30 starts in every full season going back to 2018, and has compiled a very healthy 3.47 ERA in that time with above average walk and strikeout rates. As for this season, seven starts is not an insignificant sample size, and a slight drop in velocity in his fastball has seen his strikeout rate dip to just 19.2%, the lowest rate of his career.
As Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted about a week ago, Nola is a slow worker and the pitch clock change has been a tough adjustment for him. In any case, it’s certainly too early to write off Nola based on seven starts and it’s worth noting that the bulk of the damage was done in his first three starts, and he’s averaging almost seven innings per start with a 3.29 ERA since then.
While there’s still a full season to play out, Nola’s track record should stand him in good stead to do well in free agency. While he may not possess the dominant stuff Rodon displayed in the past two seasons, his durability is far superior and as we see so often, that is a huge value add for starting pitchers. With that in mind, it’s unsurprising Nola seemingly wasn’t interested in a deal below Rodon’s $162MM.
Here’s some more notes from around the NL East:
- Sticking with the Phillies to begin with, and they’ll move Matt Strahm back to the bullpen with Ranger Suarez expected to return to the rotation shortly, per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Strahm’s given the Phillies some solid value out of the rotation, making six starts and working to a 3.51 ERA – including three scoreless starts. That’s been hugely helpful to a Phillies rotation that’s been slow out of the gates, with Nola and Zack Wheeler sporting ERAs above four and off-season recruit Taijuan Walker sitting at 6.91. The return of Suarez from an elbow injury will be a welcome addition, particularly if he can continue the excellent work he put in last season, where he worked to a 3.65 ERA across 29 starts. The Phillies have made a slow start to the season, sitting 15-18 entering play Saturday and seven games adrift of the Braves in first place, so the return of players like Suarez and Bryce Harper will be critical to getting them back in the race for one of baseball’s more competitive divisions.
- The Mets are one more team off to a slower than expected start, after another busy off-season they sit 17-16 entering play Saturday. That’s not concerning GM Billy Eppler though, who told reporters (including Tim Britton of The Athletic) that he still believes in this roster. “I believe in this team and the players that are here. There’s too much track record, there’s too much these guys have accomplished, there’s too much know-how,” Eppler said. While a 17-16 record is certainly not the end of the world, the Mets expected better and one focus might be the top of the team’s payroll, where some of their highly-paid stars are underperforming through the first month. Starling Marte is hitting just .219/.299/.286 while Max Scherzer has a 5.56 ERA, yet Eppler says he’s not concerned by either. The Mets also just welcomed back Justin Verlander from the IL, so his return to the rotation will provide a big boost as they look to keep up with the Braves.
- Kyle Wright‘s MRI revealed a right shoulder strain which the Braves will re-evaluate at a later date, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There is currently no timetable for his return. After a breakout season in 2022 which saw him finish tenth in NL Cy Young voting, Wright’s struggled in 2023, working to a 5.79 ERA in five starts. It seems likely the shoulder played a part in that step back, given Wright dealt with shoulder problems during spring training, and started the season on the IL. That’s a blow for Wright, who made 30 starts and pitched to a 3.19 ERA last season. The Braves, at least, are in a good position to weather the loss of Wright, with Spencer Strider, Max Fried and Charlie Morton all well established arms in Atlanta’s rotation, and Bryce Elder enjoying a strong start to the season.
Braves Place Kyle Wright On 15-Day Injured List
May 4: As expected, the Braves announced that Wright has been placed on the 15-day IL and that Dodd has been recalled in his place. The team classified Wright’s injury as right shoulder inflammation.
May 3: Braves right-hander Kyle Wright departed tonight’s game after throwing just 55 pitches in two-plus innings, with the club later announcing his ailment as right shoulder soreness. Manager Brian Snitker later told reporters, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, that Wright will go on the 15-day injured list.
To this point, the severity of Wright’s injury isn’t clear, but it’s noteworthy as an ongoing issue. He also dealt with some shoulder soreness during Spring Training, which put him behind schedule and caused him to start the season on the injured list. He eventually was activated and made five starts, including tonight, but will now return to the IL to figure out what’s going on with his shoulder.
Even if that ultimately ends up being a minor issue, the club will need to proceed without him for the next couple of weeks at least. Wright got some brief stints in the majors in each year from 2018 to 2021 but finally broke out last year by posting a 3.19 ERA in 180 1/3 innings. His 23.6% strikeout rate was right around league average but his 55.6% ground ball rate was quite strong.
The rotation should still be in decent shape, even without Wright’s contributions. Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Max Fried are well established and Bryce Elder seems to be running with his opportunity so far this year by posting a 1.75 ERA through six starts.
Even before the injury to Wright, the club was planning to give a spot start to Dylan Dodd, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That was to give everyone an extra day of rest after they played a double-header earlier this week, but Dodd could potentially stick around after that. He made two starts earlier this year, allowing just one earned run in the first but seven in the second. He has a 4.91 ERA in three Triple-A starts on the year. If Dodd isn’t kept around for the next few weeks, the club also has Michael Soroka and Jared Shuster as options on the 40-man roster.
Atlanta also got a bit of a scare when outfielder Michael Harris II departed with an apparent knee injury. The news there is a bit more pleasant as Snitker says they aren’t currently planning to put him on the injured list but will evaluate him some more tomorrow. He’s been struggling this year but in a small sample of just 38 plate appearances due to having spent about three weeks on the IL with a back strain. Last year, he hit 19 home runs, slashed .297/.339/.514, stole 20 bases and provided excellent center field defense en route to winning National League Rookie of the Year honors.
Braves Notes: Iglesias, Anderson, Wright
The Braves have been without closer Raisel Iglesias in the early going. The veteran reliever was sidelined during the final week of March with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The club announced he’d be shut down for at least a week and he opened the season on the 15-day injured list.
It appears that stint will linger beyond the minimal two weeks. Manager Brian Snitker informed reporters on Monday that Iglesias has yet to resume throwing (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution). The Braves have continued to evaluate the righty’s progress, though Snitker noted they won’t have any kind of recovery timetable in place until Iglesias is able to pick up a ball.
A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez have each picked up a save this season. The latter’s was a one-out appearance during today’s 5-2 win over the Cardinals after Collin McHugh had thrown 27 pitches. The highest-leverage work in the season’s first week has fallen to Dylan Lee, McHugh and Chavez. Minter and righty Joe Jiménez also figure to be in the mix for important work as the year goes along. They’ll all be up a peg in the pecking order so long as Iglesias is on the shelf.
Injuries have also been a story on the rotation front. Atlanta placed Ian Anderson on the minor league injured list this morning. Toscano tweets that Anderson has a right elbow injury and is being evaluated.
There’s no word on the issue’s severity, though any problem with a pitcher’s throwing elbow raises some amount of concern. Anderson will miss at least the next week of action at Triple-A Gwinnett. It’s possible he’s sidelined beyond the minimal stay, which would further thin an Atlanta rotation that has faced some questions early in the season.
The Braves were already set to rely on a pair of pitchers who had never previously pitched in the majors as part of the season-opening rotation. Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd jumped Anderson and Bryce Elder on the depth chart in Spring Training. Ace Max Fried landed on the 15-day IL after straining his hamstring on Opening Day. The Braves recalled Elder, pushing Anderson into the #6 role on the depth chart before the elbow soreness.
Fortunately, Atlanta should soon welcome back Kyle Wright from an IL stint of his own. The righty was slowed in camp by a sore shoulder. He opened the season on the 15-day IL to buy him a bit more time to build strength. He made a rehab start for Gwinnett this evening. The bottom line results weren’t great — he allowed five runs in a 6-3 loss — but Wright worked six innings and tossed 84 pitches. That indicates he’s mostly stretched out and figures to make his next start at the MLB level. He’s first eligible to return on April 11, which would be a home start against Cincinnati.
NL East Notes: Verlander, Wright, Keuchel, Plawecki
Justin Verlander‘s tenure with the Mets got off to an unfortunate start when the veteran righty was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a teres major strain. The injury was described as “low-grade” in the Mets’ initial release, and a source tells SNY TV’s Andy Martino that Verlander’s strain is “very minor.” More will officially be known when Verlander undergoes a follow-up MRI next week, but it does seem like the ace might be able to be activated from the IL when first eligible. That could mean a home start against the Padres on April 11 or 12, or just out of added precaution, the Mets might wait to activate Verlander until April 14 when the team visits Oakland.
More from around the NL East….
- Kyle Wright is slated to throw a start at Triple-A on Wednesday, Braves manager Brian Snitker told The Atlanta Journal-Constiution’s Justin Toscano and other reporters. The team’s initial plan was to give Wright both a minor league outing and an outing in spring camp as he continues to make his preparations for the season, and Wright checked one box with a start in extended Spring Training last Thursday. Due to an offseason cortisone shot in his throwing shoulder, Wright’s normal winter routine was set back, and thus the Braves placed him on the IL to allow him more time to fully ramp up. Assuming no setbacks, Wright is projected to be activated from the IL during Atlanta’s series with the Reds from April 10-12.
- There hasn’t been any public buzz about Dallas Keuchel‘s market since the former AL Cy Young Award winner was released by the Rangers back in September, but the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Phillies had some interest in signing Keuchel to a minor league deal, though no official offer came. Keuchel has struggled to a 6.35 ERA over 222 2/3 innings with the White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Rangers since the start of the 2021 season, so it would be something of a low-risk flier for the Phillies or any other team to bring Keuchel aboard on a minors contract. While Keuchel might not be the choice, it certainly tracks that Philadelphia would be looking for some rotation depth, since Ranger Suarez, Nick Nelson, Cristopher Sanchez, and Andrew Painter are all battling injuries to begin the season.
- The Nationals and Kevin Plawecki agreed to terms on a minor league deal earlier today, and Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com writes that the move was inspired by Israel Pineda‘s IL placement. Pineda suffered a fractured finger and was placed on the 10-day IL, leaving the Nats short some catching depth at Triple-A Rochester. Plawecki now joins Francisco Arcia on the Red Wings’ roster, providing support behind Washington’s big-league catching tandem of starter Keibert Ruiz and backup Riley Adams.
Kyle Wright To Begin Season On 15-Day IL; Braves To Use Jared Shuster, Dylan Dodd In Rotation
10:51AM: In related Braves roster news, right-handers Nick Anderson and Michael Tonkin will both be in the team’s Opening Day bullpen. (Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was among those to report the news.) Anderson and Tonkin will take over the roster spots created with Wright and Raisel Iglesias slated to start the year on the IL.
8:59AM: The battle to decide the Braves’ fifth starter has ended in something of a draw, as now both Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd will be making early turns in the rotation. According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter links), Kyle Wright is getting some “extra time” to fully prep for the season in the wake of some shoulder soreness, thus creating an opportunity for both Shuster and Dylan to make starts. Wright will go onto the 15-day injured list, The Athletic’s David O’Brien notes, but it seems possible that Wright will leave the IL when first eligible.
Wright’s usual offseason routine was interrupted in January when he received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder. That delayed Wright’s normal plan by roughly three weeks, and he didn’t make his first Spring Training start until last Monday. The Braves intend to give Wright an outing in minor league spring camp, and then a Triple-A start before bringing him onto the active roster. Counting the three days of IL backdating, Wright is seemingly in line to make his 2023 debut during the Braves’ series with the Reds from April 10-12.
Atlanta opens its season on March 30, has an off-day on March 31, and then has a game every day until April 13. This busy early schedule creates an early need for a full rotation, though Bowman writes that Dodd may not officially break camp, as the Braves will wait to call him up until his planned start on April 4 in St. Louis. That will give Atlanta a little more time in figuring out its 40-man roster maneuverings, as neither Dodd or Shuster are currently on the 40-man. (Other non-roster invitees like Jesse Chavez, Ehire Adrianza, and Kevin Pillar also look like solid bets to make the team, creating more need for extra space.)
Shuster seemingly has the slight edge over Dodd in the race to stick in the rotation, but now both southpaws will get a further opportunity to audition on the big league stage. It is a somewhat surprising outcome that didn’t appear to be on the radar when Atlanta started Spring Training, given that Ian Anderson, Bryce Elder, and Michael Soroka were the likeliest contenders to be the fifth starter. However, Shuster and Dodd both pitched so well that the Braves narrowed the field down to the two rookies, who will each be making their Major League debuts.
NL East Notes: Wright, Meneses, Rainey, Sosa
Even if Kyle Wright is slightly behind in his throwing schedule, Atlanta is hoping he won’t have to start the regular season on the injured list, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The right-hander produced comfortably his best season to date last year, breaking out after owning a combined 6.56 ERA. over the previous four seasons to go 21-5 with a 3.19 ERA over 180 1/3 innings.
The 27-year-old’s off-season prep was halted for three weeks in January following a cortisone injection in his right shoulder. That’s put him behind schedule as spring training begins, and Wright’s unlikely to make any starts for Atlanta over the first few weeks of Grapefruit League action in Florida. As Bowman reports, the hope is he’ll be able to increase his pitch count during the back half of spring training to a point where he can throw around 75 pitches in his regular season debut. That would probably mean he’d miss Atlanta’s opening series in Washington, instead targeting the trip to St Louis as a possible season debut.
Here’s some more notes from around the National League East:
- The Nationals intend to use 2022 breakout star Joey Meneses in a utility role this season. Manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post) that Meneses would play “a lot of a little bit of everywhere.” That’ll mean he sees time at first base, left field and DH on the rebuilding Nats. As a 30-year-old rookie, Meneses slashed .324/.367/.563 with 13 home runs across 240 plate appearances last season, a small bright spot in a disappointing campaign for Washington. He was certainly helped by a .371 BABIP, but nonetheless it was an impressive debut stint in the big leagues for a player who toiled away for 11 years for reaching the bigs.
- Sticking with the Nats for now, and reliever Tanner Rainey is targeting a return at the 12-month mark since his Tommy John surgery. As Jessica Camerato of MLB.com reports, Rainey is in the third week of his throwing program, and a return a year after surgery would have him slated to be back on the mound in the first week of August. Of course, there’s a lot that can happen between now and then, and with the Nats in the midst of a rebuild they’d certainly be unlikely to rush him back, but it’s an encouraging sign for the 30-year-old, who worked to a 3.30 ERA over 30 innings last season before going down.
- Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa is working on learning center field, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The plan is for the Phillies to get Sosa some center field reps during spring training in the hope he’ll be in a position for that to be an option during the regular season. Sosa has appeared in all of 3 1/3 innings in the outfield in his career, but the bulk of his appearances for the Cardinals and Phillies have come in the middle infield spots. After slashing .227/.275/.369 with two home runs, Sosa projects as an infield option on the bench in 2023, with Trea Turner and Bryson Stott manning the positions full time. Veteran Josh Harrison is also projected as a bench option that can cover the infield positions, so adding center field to Sosa’s repertoire would certainly help to deepen the bench options available to manager Rob Thomson.
Sandy Alcantara Wins National League Cy Young Award
Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara has won the National League Cy Young award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. It was a unanimous victory, with Alcantara receiving all 30 first place votes. He was followed in the voting by Max Fried of the Braves and Julio Urías of the Dodgers.
Alcantara has been the presumptive favorite for quite some time, and the unanimous voting serves as a particular testament to the caliber of season he put together. The right-hander easily lapped the field in innings, soaking up 228 2/3 frames that cleared second-place finisher Aaron Nola by 23 2/3. Alcantara and Nola were the only Senior Circuit pitchers to throw multiple complete games; Nola went the distance twice, while Alcantara did so six times. He also faced a league-leading 886 batters, with Nola’s 807 batters faced an extremely distant second.
That kind of throwback, workhorse mentality was part of what set Alcantara apart from the rest of the league, but he continued to perform brilliantly on a rate basis. Among NL starters with 100+ innings, he ranked fourth in ERA (2.28) and sixth in ground-ball percentage (53.4%). His 23.4% strikeout percentage was more good than elite, but he rarely issued free passes and kept the ball on the ground while consistently going deep into games.
Along the way, the 27-year-old earned the second All-Star nod of his career. Alcantara had posted an ERA between 3.00 and 4.00 in each of his first four seasons with the Fish to emerge as a top-of-the-rotation caliber arm. Miami inked him to a $56MM extension last offseason, a deal that extended their window of control through 2027. That seemed a strong move for general manager Kim Ng and her staff at the time, and it now stands as an absolute bargain with Alcantara cementing himself upon the game’s top handful of pitchers.
It’s the first Cy Young nod for the native of the Dominican Republic, who’d never previously appeared on an awards ballot. Fried and Urías each picked up some support for the second time. The Atlanta southpaw finished fifth in Cy Young balloting in 2020, while the L.A. hurler placed seventh last year. Both earned a top-three placement for the first time this year, with sub-2.50 ERA showings. Fried twirled 185 1/3 innings of 2.48 ball, while Urías led qualified starters with a 2.16 ERA.
Fried picked up 10 second-place votes, and Urías was the runner-up on seven ballots. Nola, Zac Gallen, Carlos Rodón, Corbin Burnes and Edwin Díaz were the other players to receive at least one second-place vote. Nola and Gallen placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Rodón, Burnes, Díaz, Yu Darvish, Kyle Wright, Logan Webb and Ryan Helsley were the other players to appear on a ballot.
Full voting breakdown available here.
Braves Notes: Rotation, Jackson, Freeman
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.