The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of Rafael Ortega. He’ll head onto the active roster, with righty Patrick Weigel optioned to make way.
Ortega, 28, joined the Atlanta organization on a minor-league pact before the season. The left-handed-hitter, who has appeared in parts of three prior MLB campaigns, carries a .285/.373/.524 batting line (126 wRC+) in 493 plate appearances at Triple-A.
It’s not clear whether Ortega is seen as a potentially permanent solution or a temporary fill-in, but his promotion reflects the fact that the Braves are in a bit of an outfield pickle. The club lost Nick Markakis just before the trade deadline and isn’t sure whether or when he’ll return. Having foregone the chance to add a significant player from outside the organization, the club is now left with what is has on hand and what it can procure through the limitations of the August acquisition period.
At one point, it seemed the Braves were set with a three-man outfield unit featuring Markakis, superstar Ronald Acuna, and rookie Austin Riley. Many even felt the club should jettison Ender Inciarte when he returned from the injured list. As it turns out, Markakis and Riley are now shelved with injuries; the latter had struggled mightily for a lengthy stretch before hitting the IL.
For a moment, it looked as if Adam Duvall would be the solution. He started with a six-game hot streak but has been dreadful in his ten ensuing games. There’s still hope that he can contribute, but it’s far from a certainty. Much the same holds for utilityman Johan Camargo, who has scuffled since a hot July. The Braves might’ve utilized Charlie Culberson in the outfield, but he’s filling in at short for the injured Dansby Swanson. Matt Joyce is still on the roster — indeed, he’s in the lineup tonight — but the club has elected to utilize him mostly as a bench bat. (He has played just 64 1/3 innings in the field.)
Despite the increasing uncertainty, the Braves’ lineup has had no trouble pushing runs across the plate, having outscored all but five other teams in the past thirty days. And the club has managed to stay out in front of the trailing pack in the division. While the Nats, Mets, and (if they can gather themselves) Phillies are threats to mount a charge, they’re still decided underdogs. But the Braves can’t sleep on their lead — six games, entering play today — and will obviously also want to fine tune their outfield mix (among other question areas) in advance of the postseason.
The picture on the app version doesn’t look to promising. He is hitting the ball on the ground right in front of him lol
Maybe that is the pitch.
If that is the pitch, even less promising lol
Lol
Also, let me apologize for typing “to” when I should have typed “too”
No problem sir
No, “to” was right.
He’s always had a low slugging percentage until this year, so I wonder if his swing or swing path has been changed to hit the ball in the air more. He’s always been a very good contact hitter.
Duval is who we thought he was?
The Braves really do need some bench help, even so. Especially if Swanson is out indefinitely.
Ah, here comes the epitome of AAAA. and wenn was Weigel up? came up just as surprisingly as Ynoa did.
Weigel called up twice….dosent even throw a pitch. What a waste. Wonder why they kept the 40 man spot vacant for so long
The best-case scenario for this terrible this to collapse, then maybe they will stop calling up **** and acquire actual talent.
Huh??
*The best-case scenario for this terrible team is to collapse, then maybe they will stop calling up **** and acquire actual talent.*
Going 0-for-the-final-40 will show ’em!
They have the second most wins in the NL.
How do you suggest acquiring talent after the trade deadline exactly?
When did I imply this year? Markakis got hurt prior to the deadline. They could have made a trade then instead of “riding out” garbage like Duvall.
Sure…blow the system up and we will be back to 70 wins again in 5-6 years.
That is how it works for cheap teams like the Braves. You have a chance, take it. Don’t assume it will be rainbows and unicorns for the next 10 years, especially when you have no pitching other than Soroka.
Bro, you really need to get a life other than posting the same comment on every article on this site.
Don’t listen to this abandoned guy. He really is a sad troll case. He always says the exact same rhetoric on all the Braves posts. Just listen to what he implies: the best thing for one of the two best teams in the entire NL would be to collapse. Then they would be smart enough to go spend money and trade away all of their future prospects so they can contend next season.
That whole concept rarely works out and if you happen to make it to #2 in the NL most teams would consider that working out. The Braves are already better than all but one team in the National League. Anyone that claims a top 2 team in either league would benefit by a collapse is dumb. He wants them to spend money but doesn’t realize that they have payroll constraints and intelligence has absolutely nothing to do with the Braves not spending as much money as he sees fit. He thinks if they collapse it will teach them a lesson and they will spend more. He doesn’t even consider the fact that if they collapse they will lose attendance during the regular season as well as all of their playoff revenue. That will cost them millions of dollars and they will have less money to spend. Not to mention the fact that a team that collapses the way he wants is rarely ever considered someone that should be a buyer. The other dumb thing is that I see him frequently post about how the Braves should trade their prospects (ie future) for whatever proven talent that is available at the time. Using his logic the Braves should have traded Acuna and Albies long ago for some bum just because that bum had more major league experience than either of them. Then the Braves should magically make their team more profitable so they can spend more money on trades and free agents. Not only that but the Braves have to magically somehow make the team more profitable all while collapsing to lose more games, have lower all around fan attendance and lose all playoff revenue at the same time.
I’m guessing this move is to add temp depth and if we can’t option him, he’s the first they are willing to DFA to create roster space? Waters and Pache have been killing it this year and I’d bring them up before this guy. Waters is killing it in AAA, but i know both guys need more seasoning there before we even consider calling them up.
On a separate and more important note, when the heck are we gonna let Weigel thrown an inning! Our bullpen is soooooo bad, let the kid show us what he can do in a limited role