Braves Morning Chop: Prospects, Recap, Veras Released

Atlanta Braves relief pitcher James Russell (51) throws a pitch during the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game against the New York Yankees at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Game Recap:  Yankees (12) vs. Braves (5)

This was pretty ugly in places… maybe I should go ahead and get those parts out of the way first:

• Three hours and fifty-three minutes.  Are you kidding me?!  For a Spring game?!  If you weren’t in favor of baseball’s game speed-up initiatives, this one might have driven your over to the Dark Side in a limousine.  Heck, the Reds and White Sox had a 9-4 games yesterday and managed to get that one to end in just over 3 hours.

There were two balks, the Yankees bumbled 3 fielding chances, and 15 pitchers were used… with at least seven of the changes coming in the midst of an inning.

• James Russell.  Hard to figure this guy.  Obtensibly brought in at the 2014 trade deadline to be the bullpen’s new lefty-vs-lefty specialist, he managed to allow LH Hitters to hit .275 off him last year while RH hitters went just .159.

Yesterday, he pitched 1-2/3rds innings, walked 1, K’d none and was responsible for 6 hits and 6 earned runs.  Here’s what went down:

• Garrett Jones (LH): doubled
• Stephen Drew (LH): went yard
• Chris Young (RH):  groundout
• Didi Gregorius (LH):  single
• Jose Pirela (RH):  flyout to center
• Brett Gardner (LH):  fly out to RF
• <inning break>
• Chase Headley (SW):  walk
• Brian McCann (LH): went yard (Lefty hitter)
• Mark Teixeira (LH):  doubled
• Garrett Jones (LH) – groundout
• Stephen Drew (LH) – groundout
• Chris Young (RH) – Single
• <done>

So the tally?

• Lefty hitters:  3 outs, 5 hits:  2 homers, 2 doubles).  Not exactly fooling anybody.
• Righty/Switch hitters:  2 outs, a walk, and 2 hits.

This outing actually overshadowed another poor showing from Arodys Vizcaino:  1.1 innings, 3 earned runs while walking 3, committing a balk, and yielding one hit.

The Better News

Mike Foltynewicz had a solid start:  2-2/3rds:  3 hits, just 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts.  One run scored, but that’s much improved over his past couple of starts.

On the offensive side, the Braves scattered 10 hits (nobody got more than 1).  Even Alberto Callaspo and Kelly Johnson got into the act, the latter getting a home run against his former mates.  Both get another shot today vs. the Marlins.

So, it was a loss, but one that had both ups and downs for several players competing for spots this Spring.