Does Atlanta Braves Roster Move Mean A Change

Pitching and Injury News

Bud Norris is available today out of the bullpen and since the pen wasn’t particularly stretched last night Boston could have been his last start as a regular member of the rotation.  Mark Bowman opines that if Norris is indeed out either Mike Foltynewicz or Tyrell Jenkins will get the call.

Both are having a good start to the year at Gwinnett; Folty’s pitched to a 2.05 ERA, 1.182 WHIP in 22 innings over four starts while Jenkins put up a 3.00 ERA, 1.476 WHIP over 21 innings in his four starts.

A closer look at the numbers however shows both have had control issues; Folty has walked 14 while striking out 20 and Jenkins walked 10 while striking out 16. Neither ratio is something we’d like to see in the majors but given Norris’ inability to get anyone out there’s no reason not to give someone else a shot.

I’d guess that Folty would be the choice as he’s got more experience and his major league clock is well underway.  Besides, having a 97mph heater in your pocket helps if you get in a jamb early.

The Return of Inciarte

In another tweet Bowman confirmed that the Braves are expecting Ender Inciarte to be back in a couple of weeks.

Given the need to get him some at bats it would seem that a return for the Phillies series isn’t a bad guess.  The question then becomes do they send Mallex Smith down at that point or keep him up and dump the extra relief pitcher. I think a lot of that depends on how Smith performs in the interim.

Until last night’s game in Boston,  Smith had struggled to adjust to major league pitching and Clay Buchholz isn’t exactly a good pitcher to judge him against as he was pretty hittable all night. If Smith continues to make solid contact against as he did in Bean Town he’ll stay if not I suspect he’ll go down, if not when Inciarte returns then when Gordon Beckham comes back.

That’s A Wrap

Teams delay roster moves for all sorts of reasons and many don;t seem to make sense. This move was made three days ago but just turned up today so other changes might be in the works and just awaiting I dotting and T crossing. . . or not.

Moving Norris to the pen was expected after his continued inability to get hitters out. His $2.5M contract dictates that they try to squeeze some usefulness out of him no matter how questionable the results may be.

Next: Got Minor League Questions? Ask Ben!

This also seems like a continuation of the arrival of younger players and we may be on the way to seeing a lot more after the Super Two date passes in middle of June.

In context I’m concerned that some of the players might not make the jump well and coming up early could set them back. On the other hand they can’t do much worse that some we’ve had up all year. Knowing the right answer means knowing the players and might be an indication that Brian Snitker could be the choice to replace Fredi Gonzalez when the time comes.

All of this is a guess of course, whatever really happens we’ll keep you in the loop here on the take.