March 27: Stephens rejected the outright assignment in favor of free agency, tweets Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
March 26: The Braves have sent right-hander Jackson Stephens outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, with Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution among those to relay the news. Both Toscano and Mark Bowman of MLB.com suggest that the opened roster spot will go to right-hander Jesse Chavez.
Stephens, 30 in May, has been on and off Atlanta’s roster over the past two years. Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent down to the minors, which has resulted in him being frequently getting bumped off the roster but always coming back.
He was signed by Atlanta to a minor league deal prior to the 2022 season and had his contract selected that year. He was non-tendered after that campaign but was re-signed in December, only to be outrighted in March. He had his contract selected in September of last year but was outrighted again in November. He signed another major league deal a week later and has lasted on the club’s roster until now.
Amid all of those transactions, he has tossed 65 2/3 innings for Atlanta over the past two years with a 3.56 earned run average. His 20.2% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate are both a bit worse than league average, but he has kept 45.4% of batted balls on the ground while also doing a good job of limiting hard contact and missing barrels. In 2022, when he pitched a far larger sample of innings compared to last year, he was in at least the 82nd percentile in terms of average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate.
Despite that generally solid performance, he continues to pass through waivers unclaimed. A player with a previous career outright has the right to reject another outright assignment and elect free agency, though it seems Stephens is comfortable with Atlanta and might either accept his assignment or quickly re-sign a new deal of some kind.
The club doesn’t need 40-man roster spots, as they are now down to just 36 guys in that department, but they do need an active roster spot if they want to add Chavez. The only guy in their projected bullpen who can be optioned is Dylan Lee, but it seems Atlanta preferred to keep him up with the big league club and remove Stephens from the 40-man. Lee has a 2.95 ERA in his career and keeping him in the majors gives them an even four-four split of righties and lefties.
Chavez, 40, has bounced around the league in recent years but always seems to end up back in Atlanta. Last year, he made 36 appearances for the club with a 1.56 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 51.7% ground ball rate. He signed a minor league deal with the White Sox but posted an 11.57 ERA in a small sample of seven innings. He didn’t make that club’s Opening Day roster and was released, either because he triggered an opt-out or because the club proactively let him loose to pursue other opportunities.
That led to him returning to Atlanta on a minor league deal yesterday and he now seems poised to be on the club’s Opening Day roster.
This move is definitely to add Jesse Chavez to the roster! Brian Snitker likes to have somebody his age to play checkers with!!
Watch Jesse come in and pitch to a sub 3 ERA all year, what will you say then?
I’ll be damned
Maybe he will say King Me
Jesse is only 2.5 months older than Charlie.
Remember, this is the same team that signed 62-year-old Satchel Paige to a contract so he could qualify for MLB pension. reddit.com/r/mlb/comments/15pp53t/august_11_1968_t…
Jesse’s a baby in comparison.
Remember that happening when I was about 11. Very classy move by the Braves at that time.
LAD also get points for something similar for a much-less heralded player: usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/dodgers/2022/03/29/d…
Julio Franco played till around then too
Not mentioning Bartolo Colon was 44 y/o when he started 13 games for ATL in 2017.
Goodness. Almost reminds me of 46 y/o Charlie Hough playing for the Marlins. I think STL tried to sign him in the offseason to make their recent additions look young. lol
I saw Satchel Paige pitch against my beloved Denver Bears of the American Association when he was about that age. It’s a pretty cool memory.
What year was that?
Early 1970’s.
I was really hoping he’d start the year in the pen, he consistently gets soft contact hits.
I kind of feel bad for Jackson as he was told he would be making the opening day roster, just to have it taken away for Jesse. He’s probably pissed, at the same time though he knows he will get a shot in the pen this year and I’m pretty sure Jesse is a good guy to hand down support for him while he eventually makes his way back to pitching out of the braves bullpen. I’ve been rooting for him, and I’ll continue to do so. If he has a year like 2022 as a long reliever I would be very pleased. Jesse is great for the braves though and I can’t be mad that we are giving him one last run at things as he’s already said this is his last year. Best of luck to the both of them.
Agreed, but 7 BB in 7.1 IP in ST is ominous. Every team needs a Bob Wickman-type though.
By now Stephens knows every exit between Gwinnett and Truist.
Mr. 285 – 85 North.
Is Chavez the oldest player in the majors?
If added to the roster he’d be the second-oldest behind Verlander
Only 228 players have pitched in more games than Chavez and he has a real shot at cracking the top 175 by end of year.
Not historic, exactly, but a good solid career for a relatively average (6 WAR) guy. Good for him.
I like Jesse but given he’s started 85 games the 6 WAR is, overall, not very good. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. He’s had his ups and downs. He’s been a decent starter and good reliever too, both mixed with down periods. A solid pitcher overall.
Wasn’t Jackson Stephens on Bewitched? No wait, that was Darren Stephens.
Jesse is back in the Braves pen and all is good with the world.
I wouldn’t be too concerned with who opens the season on the 26 man roster. There will be dozens of injuries, call-ups, sent downs, trades, etc. in the coming weeks and months.
Would be a great pickup for the Bucs to shore up the middle of the pen.
Surprised no one picked him up last year, would again be surprised if the same happened this year.
I told everyone this guy isn’t any good. He has a huge belly. You can’t be a major league pitcher in that kind of shape. Colon did steriods, and CC’s weight defeintly was the source of his injuries as he aged. Stephens needs to lose a good 50 pounds before hes major league ready