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Braves Select Silvino Bracho

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The Braves announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Silvino Bracho from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta created roster space by optioning lefty Kyle Muller to Gwinnett and by recalling righty Huascar Ynoa and placing him directly on the 60-day injured list. Ynoa had Tommy John surgery earlier this summer.

It’ll be Bracho’s second stint of the season with the Braves. The former D-backs right-hander opened the year in the Red Sox organization but was traded to Atlanta for cash back in June just hours after Boston had designated him for assignment. Bracho tossed a scoreless inning with Atlanta before being designated for assignment a second time and successfully passed through outright waivers, at which point he accepted an assignment to Triple-A and remained with the organization.

Despite not getting much of a look in Boston or Atlanta this season, Bracho has had a strong season in Triple-A. Through 57 1/3 innings, he’s pitched to a sharp 2.67 ERA with an excellent 30.4% strikeout rate against a tiny 4.3% walk rate. During his lone inning with the Braves earlier this summer, Bracho’s heater sat at 94.1 mph, which is a hair above his career 93.4 mph mark.

From 2015-20, Bracho was an up-and-down member of Arizona’s relief corps, showing promise on multiple occasions but never quite displaying the consistency required to stick on the big league staff. He looked to have turned a corner in 2018 when he logged 31 innings of 3.19 ERA ball with an above-average 26.4% strikeout rate, but Bracho tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow during Spring Training 2019 and underwent Tommy John surgery.

The Braves can technically control Bracho for another three years if they choose to keep him on the 40-man roster, but it’s likelier that this will be a short-term addition that’ll give Bracho another chance or two to square off against big league hitters. In the likely event that he’s removed from the 40-man roster, he’ll be able to become a free agent this offseason — fresh off a health and successful showing in Triple-A.

Poll: National League Rookie Of The Year

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This year’s National League Rookie of the Year voting will be a particularly fun one because the two front-runners happen to be teammates. Braves right-hander Spencer Strider and center fielder Michael Harris II both burst onto the scene in 2022 and both cemented themselves as building blocks in Atlanta. Wins above replacement is far, far from the be-all and end-all in ascertaining player value, but it’s still telling that Strider and Harris are both north of four WAR on the season (per both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs), while no other NL rookie has even three wins above replacement per either version of the metric.

Harris and Strider have both played at an All-Star level this season, though neither actually made the All-Star team this summer. That’s due largely to the fact that Strider began the season in the bullpen and Harris didn’t make his debut until late May. Given their play in 2022, that could change as early as next summer.

There’s still a bit of time for the bottom line to change, although with Strider on the 15-day injured list due to an oblique strain, his regular season is likely over. Harris will have another nine games to build his case, pending any off-days or an untimely injury of his own. Let’s take a quick look at each player’s candidacy.

A Quick Case for Strider

Dominant this season as both a reliever (2.22 ERA in 24 1/3 innings) and a starter (2.77 ERA, 107 1/3 innings), Strider leads all National League rookies with 131 2/3 innings pitched. Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene, a popular ROY pick prior to the season, is a distant second place at 113 2/3 innings. Strider’s gaudy 38.3% strikeout rate isn’t just the best among rookie pitchers in 2022 — it’s the best among all Major League pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings. Shane McClanahan is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball (again, min. 100 innings pitched) who has induced swinging strikes at a higher clip than Strider’s 15.5%.

Strider’s overall numbers — 131 2/3 innings, 2.67 ERA, 38.3% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate — are so dominant that if he had a few more innings on his resume, he’d be in the mix for some down-ballot Cy Young votes. (He may still get a handful, but he’s not going to stack up alongside the current leaders.)

A common argument against Strider is that he shouldn’t be favored because he plays less often than an everyday player (e.g. Harris). Firstly, unlike most of even the fringe ROY candidates, Strider broke camp with the Braves this year. He’s been on the roster since Opening Day, which Harris and others can’t claim.

Secondly, Strider has faced 528 batters this season and, were it not for the oblique injury, would’ve pushed that number close to 600. Even that 528 mark is greater than the total number of plate appearances for any National League rookie hitter. Strider (and pitchers in general) may appear in a fewer number of their team’s overall games, but as a pitcher, he has more direct influence on the outcome of every single plate appearance than any of the defenders behind him. On average, he faced 21.7 hitters per start. That’s nearly a week’s worth of plate appearances for a position player.

Put more succinctly, the counter-argument to that common knock on Strider is that hitters play a smaller role in determining the outcome of a large number of their team’s games; pitchers play a larger role in determining the outcome of a small number of their team’s games.

A Quick Case for Harris

In terms of wins above replacement, Harris trails only Julio Rodriguez for the rookie lead, per FanGraphs (4.8), and only Rodriguez and Cleveland’ Steven Kwan, per Baseball-Reference (5.1). He’s a dynamic player in all facets of the game, hitting .305/.346/.535 with 19 home runs and 19 steals apiece. Harris doesn’t walk much (4.7%) and strikes out a bit more than average (23.8%), but that hasn’t stopped him from being 43% better than the average hitter, by measure of wRC+ (or 42%, per OPS+).

Defensively, Harris looks like a future Gold Glover. He might not win one this season, as his cumulative defensive contributions are impacted by the fact that he spent nearly two months in the minors, but every publicly available metric is in agreement that he’s a plus, if not elite defender. In 949 innings of center field work, Harris has received standout marks from Defensive Runs Saved (7), Ultimate Zone Rating (3.9) and Statcast (6 Outs Above Average, 5 Runs Above Average), to name a few. Harris ranks in the 92nd percentile of Statcast’s Outs Above Average, the 87th percentile for his jumps on balls hit to the outfield, and in 94th percentile for pure sprint speed.

It’s true that Strider has more batters faced than Harris has plate appearances, but Harris has fielded far more balls in play in center field than Strider has on the mound. His value as a defensive player is far superior, particularly given his elite results in 2022. Harris also provides baserunning value that Strider doesn’t have the ability (or even the opportunity) to match. Despite appearing in just 106 games so far, Harris ranks 17th among all big leaguers in baserunning runs above average, per FanGraphs’ — a cumulative stat that incorporates more than just his impressive 19-for-21 showing in stolen bases.

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There’s really no wrong answer; both players have had sensational starts to their career and both have been absolutely vital pieces of a Braves team that trails the Mets by 1.5 games for the National League East lead. Still, only one of the two is going to take home Rookie of the Year honors in November. Who should it be?

Braves Place Spencer Strider On IL With Oblique Strain

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The Atlanta Braves announced they have placed starting pitcher Spencer Strider on the 15-day IL with a strained left oblique muscle, backdated to September 21st. RHP Alan Rangel will be recalled in a corresponding move. The Braves have also reinstated Ehire Adrianza from the 10-day IL and have optioned infielder Rylan Bannon to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Strider has been nothing short of sensational for Atlanta in 2022. Slotted as a bullpen arm to start the season, Strider dominated in relief, posting a 2.22 ERA in 24 1/3 innings out of the ’pen. The Braves transitioned the rookie to the rotation in May 30, where he has been one of the most effective starters in baseball. In 107 1/3 innings over 20 starts, Strider has held opponents to a .183 BA and a minuscule .274 slugging. He was named NL Rookie of the Month in July and has amassed 202 strikeouts between his work in the bullpen and the rotation, good for fourth in the senior circuit.

Strider’s move to the IL follows a brilliant outing on September 18th against the Phillies, in which he struck out 10 batters and gave up one run over six innings. He left the game with a tender left oblique, which prompted the Braves to preemptively push back his next start as a precaution. Strider will remain on the IL until the final day of the regular season, calling his readiness for the postseason into question should he suffer any setbacks. For the time being, it seems likely that right-hander Bryce Elder will continue to fill Strider’s spot in the rotation, as he did when Strider was initially pushed back. Alan Rangel will be recalled to account for the Braves’ hole in their pitching matrix. Rangel has started 26 games in 2022 for Double-A Mississippi and has accumulated a 5.26 ERA.

It will be a massive loss for Atlanta if Strider is unable to pitch in the postseason. This will hold especially true if the Braves are unable to win the NL East and are forced to compete in one of the NL Wild Card Series, where a 1-2 punch of Strider and Max Fried would be particularly formidable. Should Strider not be available for the Wild Card Series, the Braves rotation figures to be Fried in Game 1, Kyle Wright in Game 2, and Charlie Morton in the decider. There is also the scenario in which Strider, without the luxury of a traditional minor league rehab process, comes out of the bullpen for Atlanta for one or more postseason series. Regardless of what transpires, Brian Snitker and his staff will have their hands full as they balance the Braves’ immediate postseason aspirations with the future health of their budding ace.

Adrianza will return to Atlanta’s bench after being placed on the 10-day IL with a left quad strain. The 33-year old utility infielder began 2022 with the Nationals before being returning to the Braves via a trade deadline swap. Adrianza has only logged eight at-bats for the Braves since his arrival in August, collecting a singular hit. Adrianza takes the place of infielder Rylan Bannon, who the Braves claimed off waivers in August. Bannon only played in one game during his time with the Braves and made no plate-appearances.

Mike Soroka Shut Down For 2022 Season With Elbow Soreness

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Mike Soroka’s return to MLB will not be in 2022, with the Braves placing the starter on the minor league injured list with right elbow soreness, as reported by Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including David O’Brien of the Athletic) there’s not structural damage, but Soroka will nevertheless be shut down and turn his attention to 2023.

It is yet another lost season for the now 25-year-old, who broke into the majors in early 2018 just shy of his 21st birthday. He would then deal with inflammation in his pitching shoulder and only pitched 25 2/3 innings. However, Soroka returned healthy in 2019 and posted a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts, totaling 174 2/3 innings with an average 20.3 K% and 5.9 BB% en route to an All-Star appearance, NL Rookie of Year runner-up, and a 6th place finish in Cy Young voting.

On the heels of his great rookie season, Soroka was named the Braves’ Opening Day starting pitcher, becoming the youngest ever in the team’s modern history. However, after only 13 2/3 innings, Soroka tore his Achilles tendon midway through a start — ending his 2020 season. Soroka began the 2021 season on the 60-day injured list while continuing his rehab. However, in a cruel twist, as he was progressing, he had a setback and was forced to undergo a second surgery on his Achillies, ending his 2021 season.

Soroka returned to the field in August, with the Braves optioning him to Triple-A Gwinnett after his activation as he worked his way back from three surgery on his Achilles tendon. However, in 21 innings pitched (five starts) in Gwinnett, Soroka has given up 20 hits and 15 earned runs.

In his absence, the Braves haven’t missed a step. Fresh off winning the 2021 World Series, Atlanta’s starting rotation has held steady. Led by Max Fried and Spencer Strider, the rotation features five pitchers who have each made at least 20 starts. Collectively, Braves starters have posted the sixth-lowest ERA, sixth-most innings pitched, and the second-highest K% at 25.2% league-wide

Soroka agreed to a $2.8MM salary to avoid arbitration this past offseason. He’ll be eligible for arbitration twice more after this season and is unlikely to receive much of a raise (if any) after another lost year, assuming the Braves tender him a contract.

MLBTR Poll: Predicting The NL East Winner

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As the regular season nears its conclusion, the playoff picture has mostly come into focus. Of the 12 teams currently in playoff position, 10 have a cushion of at least 4 1/2 games. The Padres and Phillies are working to hold off the Brewers for the final two Wild Card spots in the National League, but the rest of the teams currently in playoff position have put themselves in a great spot to reach the postseason barring a major collapse. There’s an outside shot the White Sox track down the Guardians in the AL Central or the Orioles get back into the AL Wild Card race, but it’d take a major turn of events over the next two weeks.

There’s a similar lack of intrigue in most of the division races. The Astros and Dodgers have already clinched their respective divisions. The Yankees, Guardians and Cardinals all hold leads of six-plus games in theirs. The only division race that promises plenty of intrigue down the stretch: the battle for the NL East.

Both the Mets and Braves are already guaranteed to make the postseason. They’re each likely to surpass 100 wins. Yet one of those teams will come up just shy of a division title, leaving them as the #4 seed in the National League. That means a three-game series against the #5 seed in a first-round Wild Card set under the playoff format introduced in this spring’s collective bargaining agreement. Obviously, both teams would much prefer to secure the division title (and almost certainly the NL’s #2 seed and accompanying first-round bye). Which one is the frontrunner for the division crown? Let’s take a look at the remaining road for each and their current health outlook.

Mets (95-56 record, +147 run differential)

Remaining schedule: at Oakland (three games), vs. Miami (two games), at Atlanta (three games), vs. Washington (three games)

The Mets have 11 games remaining. Eight of them are against teams 28 games or more below .500. The other three: a crucial series next weekend in Atlanta. New York welcomed back Max Scherzer from a brief injured list stint on Monday. He came out with six perfect innings against the Brewers, striking out nine, before being lifted due to a pitch count limitation. The Mets rotation is at full strength at the right time, pushing players like Tylor Megill and David Peterson into the bullpen.

The biggest current injury for the Mets is on the position player side. Right fielder Starling Marte has yet to return after suffering a non-displaced fracture in his right middle finger two weeks back. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweeted this afternoon that the All-Star outfielder is hopeful he’ll be back in time for next weekend’s series with the Braves. Center fielder Brandon Nimmo, meanwhile, left today’s game with left quad soreness. Mike Puma of the New York Post relays that he’s likely to go for imaging tomorrow but Nimmo downplayed the severity of the issue postgame.

Braves (93-56 record, +171 run differential)

Remaining schedule: at Philadelphia (four games), at Washington (three games), vs. Mets (three games), at Miami (three games)

The defending champions dug themselves an early hole with a mediocre first two months, but they’ve been incredible since the calendar flipped to June. They’re a staggering 70-28 over the past three and a half months, nearly erasing a deficit that was once as high as 10 1/2 games in the process. They’ve pulled even with the Mets in the loss column but have two fewer wins, leaving them with a bit more work to do to get ahead in the standings.

The Braves kick off a four-game set with the Phillies tomorrow. That’s a much more difficult series than any the Mets will play (aside from the Braves themselves), but Atlanta just swept Philly last weekend.

Like the Mets, Atlanta doesn’t have any key starting pitchers currently on the injured list. Rookie star Spencer Strider is battling some oblique soreness and had today’s scheduled start pushed back slightly, but there’s no indication an IL stint is currently under consideration. As with New York, Atlanta is down one star position player thanks to a fractured finger though. The Braves lost Ozzie Albies to a right pinky fracture over the weekend. There’s a chance he returns in the postseason but he’s not expected back before the end of the regular season. Rookie Vaughn Grissom filled in well in recent weeks while Albies was rehabbing a broken foot; he’ll be asked to do the same for the stretch run.

Tiebreaker procedure

The final three games between the Mets and Braves obviously loom as the largest remaining on the schedule for both clubs. Not only are they the most directly impactful in the standings, they also carry implications for the tiebreaker. The new CBA did away with the traditional Game 163 in favor of a tiebreaker system. If two clubs finish the season with the same record, the team with the better head-to-head mark gets the nod in the standings. The Mets lead this year’s season series 9-7, meaning Atlanta would need to sweep their final meeting to secure the tiebreaker.

How does the MLBTR readership expect things to play out? Which team will celebrate an NL East crown two weeks from now?

(poll link for app users)

 

Braves Outright Jay Jackson

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In an unsurprising move, Atlanta Braves’ relief pitcher Jay Jackson has passed through waivers unclaimed, as reported in MLB’s Transactions Log. Jackson was not on the active roster prior to his DFA, but was on the Braves’ 40-man while with Gwinnett. An early offseason addition for the defending champs, the 34-year-old Jackson was DFA’d by the San Francisco Giants and traded to the Braves. However, his start to the 2022 season was delayed by a right lat strain that forced him to the injured list. Once active, he was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett where he posted a 1.53 ERA in 17 2/3 innings with 20 strikeouts with a strong 29.4 K% and 4.4 BB%. Jackson finally made his season debut on August 29th, pitching one-third of an inning before following that up by pitching another inning on August 31st. In total, he pitched 1 1/3 innings, giving up one hit and striking out a single batter.

Jackson has bounced around in his career prior to his latest DFA, having been a part of 7 Major League organizations in his 15-year career. Most recently, he spent the 2021 season with the Giants, pitching to a 3.74 ERA in 21 2/3 innings with a high 31.3 K%. Nevertheless, Jackson walked a fair share of batters posting a 13.3% BB%. Prior to his stint with the Giants, Jackson was with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan’s NPB from 2016-2018, coming back to the majors in 2019 with the Milwaukee Brewers, before returning to NPB with the Chiba Lotte Marines briefly in 2020.

As noted in a previous MLBTR article, Jackson was owed the balance of a $1.5MM major league salary, is not playoff-eligible for a new team,  and is a free agent after the season. By remaining in Triple-A he will receive the rest of his salary and be a depth option for the Braves. Regardless he will be a free agent after this season and will likely garner plenty of minor league interest, having had a strong showing in Gwinnett, with the Giants in 2021, and in NPB.

Kurt Suzuki To Retire After 2022 Season

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Longtime big league catcher Kurt Suzuki will retire once the 2022 season concludes, he tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. That comes the day after the Hawaii native’s 39th birthday.

“I feel like it’s time,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I’ve had a great run, won a World Series, All-Star Game. Played 16 seasons. I’ve accomplished a lot of things I never would have dreamed of. I felt like it’s time for the next chapter. My three kids, all they’ve known is baseball.”

Suzuki began his professional career in 2004. A second-round pick of the A’s out of Cal State Fullerton, he made it to Oakland three years later. Suzuki debuted in June 2007 and cemented himself as the A’s primary catcher from essentially that point forward. The right-handed hitter topped 130 games every year between 2008-11, generally hitting at a slightly below-average level overall but better than average for a catcher. Suzuki’s high-contact approach made him a solid offensive backstop for much of his time in Oakland, and the A’s dealt him to the Nationals in the summer of 2012.

After finishing out that season in Washington, Suzuki wound up back in Oakland via trade in August ’13. He qualified for free agency for the first time after that year, signing with the Twins. Suzuki bounced back from a couple down offensive years to hit .288/.345/.383 and earn an All-Star nod that year, and Minnesota signed him to a two-year extension that summer. His production dipped during his final two seasons in Minnesota, but he rebounded with one of the best years of his career after signing with Atlanta going into 2017. He popped a career-best 19 home runs and hit .283/.351/.536 through 81 games, earning a midseason extension for a second season with the Braves.

Suzuki didn’t quite replicate his 2017 production, but he posted another above-average offensive season to wrap up his time in Atlanta. After hitting .271/.322/.444 with 12 longballs, he landed another multiyear deal in free agency. Heading into the 2019 campaign, the Nationals inked Suzuki to a two-year, $10MM deal to pair with Yan Gomes behind the dish. That contract paid off in year one, as the veteran hit another 17 homers with a .264/.324/.486 line in 85 regular season games. Suzuki saw his most extensive playoff action during the Nats run a World Series title that year. That included a go-ahead homer off Justin Verlander in the seventh inning in Game 2 of the World Series, the biggest play in a win that gave Washington a 2-0 series lead.

After another solid showing with Washington during the shortened 2020 campaign, Suzuki has played the last two seasons on successive one-year pacts with the Angels. He’s had a couple down years to wrap up his career, working primarily as a backup in Orange County.

Suzuki’s career totals won’t be finalized until the season concludes, but he’s not likely to change his ledger all that much over the final two weeks. As he noted, Suzuki has played in 16 consecutive big league seasons and surpassed 1600 games. He owns a .255/.314/.388 line with 143 home runs, 729 runs batted in and 594 runs scored. Suzuki made an All-Star game and played a key role on a World Series team. Baseball Reference values his career around 20 wins above replacement. FanGraphs, which factors in Suzuki’s below-average pitch framing metrics, pegs him around nine wins.

Independent of that discrepancy in value, there’s little doubt about the impressiveness of a major league career that lasted more than a decade and a half. It’s possible he’ll continue his baseball career in some capacity, as Suzuki indicated he’d be happy to discuss the possibility of assuming a non-playing role with Halos general manager Perry Minasian (with whom he’s also familiar from their overlapping stints in Atlanta). MLBTR congratulates Suzuki on his lengthy career and wishes him all the best in his post-2022 endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Ozzie Albies Suffers Fractured Right Pinky Finger

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3:07PM: Albies will be in a cast for three weeks but he won’t require surgery.  The Braves will continue to evaluate the second baseman for his health and possible readiness for the playoffs.  (MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to report the news.)

8:20AM: The Braves have officially placed Albies back on the injured list, albeit the 10-day IL. To fill the vacant 28-man roster spot, Rylan Bannon has been called up from Triple-A Gwinnett. Bannon has bounced around this season, having begun the year with the Orioles before being placed on waivers and claimed by the Dodgers and then the Braves in mid-August. In 81 at-bats at the Braves’ top-level affiliate, the righty has slashed .323/.432/.477, good for a .909 OPS.

SEPTEMBER 17TH: In just his second game back since being activated off the 60-day injured list, Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies suffered a fractured right pinky finger in tonight’s game against the Phillies.  The injury occurred during a slide into second base in the fourth inning, and Albies was replaced by Vaughn Grissom at second base for the top of the fifth.

The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, though the fact that initial x-rays determined the problem before the game was over could indicate more than just a small fracture.  It would seem like Albies’ 2022 season could be over, perhaps even if Atlanta made another run to the World Series.

Albies was a big contributor to last year’s championship team, earning his second career All-Star and Silver Slugger honors while also finishing 13th in NL MVP voting.  However, Albies was off to a relatively slow start over the 2022 campaign’s first two months before he suffered a left foot fracture on June 13 and had to undergo surgery.  As noted, Albies was sidelined until just yesterday, when he went 1-for-4 with two RBI in Atlanta’s 7-2 win over Philadelphia.

The Braves have managed to thrive even without Albies for much of the season, and Grissom has somewhat unexpectedly stepped up as an immediate contributor after being promoted from Double-A a little over a month ago.  Grissom has hit .304/.355/.482 over his first 121 plate appearances in the majors, leading to some speculation that the Braves would try Grissom in left field in order to keep his hot bat in the lineup.  However, it seems as though opposing pitchers have started to adjust to Grissom, as the rookie has only a .607 OPS over his last 67 PA.

Nevertheless, in the wake of Albies’ injury, it would seem like Grissom will now again be the top choice at second base for the remainder of the regular season and postseason.  Orlando Arcia is also on hand to provide depth, and Ehire Adrianza is also on hand, but currently on the IL himself due to a quad strain.  Pat Valaika, Hernan Perez, and Ryan Goins are some of the Triple-A options with MLB experience, though Atlanta could have to add any of those players to the 40-man roster.

It was less than a year ago that the Braves overcame the odds by winning the World Series despite losing a star player (Acuna) to injury for much of the season and throughout the playoffs.  While the book isn’t yet closed on Albies’ possible availability in the postseason, his absence for at least a few weeks will make it harder for the Braves to overtake the Mets in the NL East, and potentially capture a first-round bye.  The NL East runner-up is all but guaranteed to be the NL’s top wild card team and thus is set to host all three games (if necessary) of the Wild Card Series, yet Atlanta would obviously love to avoid those extra games and an extra chance of elimination.

Braves Place Kirby Yates On Injured List

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The Braves announced that reliever Kirby Yates has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 13, due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. Righty William Woods was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his spot in the bullpen. Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets that Yates experienced some discomfort while throwing this afternoon.

An elbow inflammation diagnosis for Yates is a bit alarming, as it comes on the heels of a lengthy rehab from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander missed most of the abbreviated 2020 campaign battling elbow issues, and his efforts to avoid going under the knife proved unsuccessful. He required Tommy John surgery in March 2021 and spent a season and a half on the injured list before being reinstated in mid-August.

Despite the lengthy rehab process, the Braves rolled the dice on a two-year guarantee for Yates last offseason. He’s making just $1MM this year and will earn $6MM next season before the club has to decide on a 2024 team option valued at $5.25MM. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos and his staff were clearly hoping Yates would recapture something resembling his 2019 form. During his last full healthy season, the Hawaii native was arguably the best reliever in the game. He saved an MLB-leading 41 games, posted a 1.19 ERA and struck out 41.6% of opponents over 60 2/3 innings with the Padres that season.

While there’s still time for Yates to turn things around, he’s shown signs of rust through his first month in Atlanta. The 35-year-old has logged seven innings over nine outings, allowing four runs on a pair of homers with five walks and six strikeouts. Yates’ 93.4 MPH average fastball velocity is right in line with his pre-surgery work, but the pitch has been hit hard so far this season. On the plus side, his trademark split has again been an excellent offering.

The Braves haven’t provided any kind of timetable for Yates’ expected return. There are a bit less than three weeks remaining in the regular season. A minimal stint would give Yates an opportunity to make it back for an outing or two before the playoffs, but any absence stretching notably beyond 15 days would take him into the postseason. Paired with his early struggles, Yates’ elbow discomfort could make it difficult for the team to carry him on a playoff roster. That’s particularly true in light of the team’s overall strength at the back end. The Braves have the majors’ fifth-lowest bullpen ERA (3.17) and second-best strikeout rate (27.4%).

Braves Activate Ozzie Albies, Designate Jay Jackson For Assignment

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The Braves announced Friday that second baseman Ozzie Albies has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow infielder Ehire Adrianza was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained quadriceps to open a spot on the active roster, while righty Jay Jackson was designated for assignment in order to clear a 40-man spot for Albies.

Albies, still just 25 years old, hasn’t appeared in a game since June 13 thanks to a broken left foot that ultimately required surgery. The Braves, at one point, were hopeful of a mid-August return for the two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger winner, but Albies’ recovery took a bit longer than that best-case scenario. Even without Albies’ all-around excellence, however, the Braves have been one of MLB’s hottest teams. Since his injury, Atlanta has played at a sweltering 52-28 pace, surging to just one game back of the NL East lead.

Inserting Albies back into the lineup will only make the Braves all the more dangerous. He is, after all, a .270/.321/.470 career hitter whose most recent full-season, 2021, was also the first 30-homer campaign of his impressive young career.

In Albies’ absence, the Braves have cycled through several options at the keystone. None of Orlando Arcia, Phil Gosselin or the aforementioned Adrianza hit particularly well in limited action at the position, however, and the organization eventually made the decision to call top prospect Vaughn Grissom up directly from Double-A in an effort to get more production from second base. Grissom has flashed all the tools that make him such a ballyhooed prospect in his initial look at the MLB level, but his bat has also cooled after a blistering start to the his career. Grissom slashed .420/.463/.660 through his first 14 games (54 plate appearances), but he’s batting just .210/.269/.333 in 17 games since and is has only one hit in his past five games.

For now, Grissom will stay on the big league roster despite the fact that Albies will step back into a full-time role at second base. There’s been talk of giving Grissom some time in left field, where neither Eddie Rosario nor Marcell Ozuna has provided much value to the lineup this season. There are also DH at-bats to go around, of course, so it’s possible for both Albies and Grissom to be in the lineup — which would come at the expense of playing time for some combination of Rosario, Ozuna and deadline acquisition Robbie Grossman.

The 34-year-old Jackson wasn’t on the active roster prior to today’s move but had been occupying a 40-man spot while pitching with Triple-A Gwinnett. He’s handled himself quite nicely there, to put things mildly; in 17 2/3 frames with Gwinnett, Jackson allowed just three runs on 13 hits and three walks with 20 strikeouts — good for a 1.53 ERA.

Jackson’s DFA is largely a case of poor timing and unfortunate (for him) circumstances. He missed the first several months of the season due to a lat strain and never really got much of a look in Atlanta thanks to an already loaded bullpen. The Braves are deep in quality veteran options, with Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek, Collin McHugh and Kirby Yates all under contract and pitching well. Rookie left-hander Dylan Lee has quietly been dominant for Atlanta, and the only other spot in the bullpen is currently occupied by out-of-options righty Jackson Stephens, who has pitched to a solid 3.74 ERA in a multi-inning role there.

The Braves could’ve opted to jettison Stephens and go with Jackson, but doing so would have required them to place Stephens on waivers, given his lack of minor league options. Jackson, who returned to the Majors in 2021 after spending the 2020 season in Japan, can become a free agent at season’s end under the terms of the contract he inked, MLBTR has confirmed. As such, the choice effectively boils down to four more years of Stephens versus a few more weeks of Jackson.

Given that Jackson is still owed the balance of a $1.5MM Major League salary, wouldn’t be playoff-eligible for a new team and is a free agent after the season, there’s a good chance he’ll clear waivers even in spite of his big showing in Gwinnett. If that’s the case, he could remain on hand as a depth option who could be summoned in the event of a late injury. Either way, he’ll reach the open market again this winter on the heels of a solid 2021-22  showing in Triple-A and having posted a combined 3.52 ERA with a 30.5% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate in 23 big league innings between San Francisco (21 2/3) and Atlanta (1 1/3) over the past two seasons.

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