The Braves have designated right-hander Akeel Morris for assignment. Morris’ 40-man spot will go to Josh Ravin, whose contract the club has purchased from Triple-A Gwinnett. Left-hander Rex Brothers has been optioned to make room for Ravin at the big-league level.
Morris, 25, made his big league debut with the Mets in 2015, but didn’t appear again in the majors until last July. He struck out nine hitters and allowed just one earned run across 7 1/3 innings for the Braves during his second stint, though he did walk four hitters. Even in Triple-A last season, the righty only managed a 32% ground ball rate and sported a 4.44 BB/9 mark.
Similarly, the right-handed Ravin walked nine hitters in just 16 2/3 innings with the Dodgers last season, and ended the campaign with a bloated 6.48. He did, however, manage to strike out 10.62 batters per nine innings. That’s where the 33-year-old’s upside lies; he had a whopping 14.01 K/9 across 35 1/3 Triple-A innings last season.
bravesfan 7
Are you telling me we traded Kelly Johnson to the mets twice for nothing?
darkstar61
Hey, at least got a couple pen appearances from those trades to the Mets. Much better than the return you got when you sent him packing for Arizona
bravesfan
WTF!! Why… what’s up with all these questionable small moves lately
RunDMC
AA getting rid of dead weight. Morris is victimized by the analytics. But he wasn’t acquired by him in the first place. Nothing to see here.
bravesbornandbred
Analytics suggest that Morris is a better option than Brothers, who should have been the DFA, IMO.
jbigz12
Rex Brothers is a lefty. Lefties almost always get the edge on a close call. Morris is younger and you’d think there’s more upside there for a team like Atlanta though.
southi
Kinda surprised by this move. Brothers in my mind needed to go away, but I’m not sure it was the right move to designate Morris (as I always thought he had at least some upside).
agentx
Chicks dig the long ball. Front office geeks dig “big arms.”
Backatitagain
More bad decisions
bastros88
don’t really get this move but okay
Sirsleepit
DFAs a prospect on a rebuilding team for a 33 yr old past his ceiling. Makes you miss Coppy almost
bravesfan
No doubt. He’s a good pitcher. I don’t get it. He’s a solid bullpen piece
TheHernandezInput
I second that!!! Did anybody wondered, about the new GM, how many WS did Toronto win while he was in charge?
Kayrall
Some day I will name my first born Akeel.
snyder1962
seems like the braves are taking pages from the Wrigley family playbook. Only a long time baseball fan will get this.