Hello again everyone! The news keeps raining down, I guess so it can match the weather up here!
The Braves made two roster moves today. They brought up right-handed reliever Cory Gearrin from AAA Gwinnett. To make room on the roster, they sent Matt Young back down to Gwinnett.
Some of you may have seen where I questioned why Christian Martinez was left in for a second inning yesterday, pitching three straight days with two days being multiple innings. It came out today that Jonny Venters is suffering from soreness in his bicep and was not available to pitch. While the Braves are indicating that they don’t think the injury is severe, they also haven’t said whether he will be available this weekend. In any case, it makes Thursday’s usage make more sense.
What is a bit surprising was that the Braves called up Gearrin instead off Stephen Marek, who was widely thought to be next in line for call-up. Gearrin put up a 2.61 ERA in 10 1/3 innings (six outings). In what could be a problem for a staff that needs help getting right-handed hitters out, he has put up “reverse splits” so far this year. Left-handed hitters have hit only .167 (2-for-12) while right-handed hitters have hit a healthy .320 (8-for-25) in a larger sample size.
There is some speculation that Gearrin is being showcased for a trade, but there’s no real evidence that I can see that supports that.
As for Young, he has really struggled at the plate along with most of his teammates. I’d personally be surprised if he were the first position player recalled from Gwinnett. Jose Constanza is hitting for average and stealing bases. Both Schafer and Mather are hitting in the .300 range with a little power. Ramirez has three homers, but is only hitting .235. I think any of these guys might come up before Matt.
That’s my Take. What’s yours?
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