The Braves announced that they have claimed infielder Luke Williams off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. There had been no public indication that Williams lost his roster spot with the Dodgers but they evidently tried and failed to pass him through waivers in recent days. Atlanta transferred left-hander Max Fried to the 60-day injured list in order to open a 40-man roster spot for Williams. Additionally, righty Michael Soroka was also optioned to Gwinnett.
Williams, 26, was signed by the Dodgers to a minor league deal in the offseason. He was selected to their roster in mid-April but then optioned to Triple-A 10 days later. He got just 10 big league plate appearances in four games and hit .100/.100/.100 in those. He’s spent most of the season in Triple-A Oklahoma City, hitting .268/.364/.452 there for a wRC+ of 93. That indicates he’s been 7% below league average at the plate but he’s stolen 11 bases while playing shortstop, third base and left field this year. Previous seasons have seen him line up at every position except catcher, giving him plenty of defensive versatility.
That type of production generally aligns with his previous seasons. He now has 141 major league games on his ledger, spending time with the Phillies in 2021 and then the Giants and Marlins last year. Combined with his brief stint with the Dodgers this year, he has a career batting line of .234/.291/.306 and a wRC+ of 67. But he’s created value elsewhere by swiping 14 bags in 20 tries and bouncing all around the diamond to fill in as needed.
Atlanta was able to easily add Williams as a depth piece since they essentially had a roster spot to burn. Fried has been on the injured list since May 6 with a forearm strain and the plan was to shut him down completely until he healed before building him back up again. It’s now been about a month since that IL placement and he’s yet to get close to a return. As of two days ago, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the lefty was throwing but still hadn’t progressed to mound work. He will still need to get to that stage before likely throwing a few bullpens, maybe some live batting practice as well, before embarking on a rehab assignment for a few weeks to build up properly.
Given the time he’s still set to miss, it was inevitable that he’d get moved to the 60-day IL once the club wanted to use that roster spot on someone else. He will be officially eligible to return after 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was in early May. That means he could technically be activated in early July but that doesn’t seem especially likely given his current progress.
As for Soroka, he just returned to the big leagues for the first time in almost three years. He twice ruptured his Achilles tendon in the interim and battled some other lesser injuries in that time as well. He was finally healthy enough to get into a decent groove this year, making eight Triple-A starts with a 4.33 ERA. That led to a couple of outings in the big leagues, though he allowed nine earned runs through 9 2/3 innings in those. He wasn’t likely to be a permanent solution in the rotation anyway, as he will likely need to have his innings managed after so much missed time. He’ll now head back to the farm to continue that progression.
Another factor potentially leading to Soroka’s optioning is the emergence of prospect AJ Smith-Shawver. He was recently called up to the majors despite being just 20 years old and having barely 100 innings pitched in the minors thus far. He entered yesterday’s game out of the bullpen and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He struck out three, walked one and didn’t allow a hit while throwing 39 pitches. It’s possible that he’ll now get a chance to make a start or two, though the club hasn’t made any official announcements in that regard.
Where’s that Braves fan who uses his username on MLBTR to say Acuna should be traded? He was screaming about it last season because he was certain he had simply started playing at his actual talent level and his injury had nothing to do with it.
Come on out and proudly show yourself, buddy. >=}
Why do I get the sinking feeling the braves will sign bumgarner soon.
Hopefully not, my bet is we bring up some bullpen guy
Roddery munoz…
That’s Chipotle talking. Answer the call. Don’t be a hero.
The move putting Fried on the 60 day means nothing as he was already going to be out at least another month. I don’t get wasting a 40 man spot on a bum like Williams. Don’t they already have a team full of clowns lim him at Gwinnett already? Sending Soroka down does open up a spot on the active roster. For who?
Agree. They already have many players like him at AAA. Except Williams has played ss, so there’s that.
AA all about clubhouse when it comes to in season additions and madbum doesn’t seem to be a fit. So I don’t see it
at 26 already an established journeymen – DFA candidate at every stop
Soroka wasn’t ready and in actuality I wouldn’t have been shocked if the ideal plan was to let him spend all of 2023 in Gwinnett. It took Fried, Wright, Anderson, Ynoa and Allard all going down and Dodd being ineffective for him to become the next man up.
AJ and Soroka are alike in that both’s innings will likely need to be monitored. Wouldn’t be surprised to see either in the bullpen towards the end of the season.
Soroka’s clock has been ticking on free agency. He’s acquired time while he’s been injured so I don’t see the harm in playing him sooner than later. He’s probably gone after 2024. Doubtful they resign him after the injuries unless of course he gives a big discount to the Braves.
Drive that mule then.
Eeyore, the good mule, pull the tigger…
When Ozuna became a spectator for his deep drive to center I knew Snitker was going to bench him. Acuna did that twice at home a couple of years ago and he paid the price. Hit the ball and run, it’s not that hard to do.
Its crazy situation and I think that his time with the org is quickly dwindling.. Hes been given every opportunity imaginable. TDA needs to get it going offensively, its time for him to get the majority of ABs at DH.