Atlanta Braves DL Tyler Flowers

The Atlanta Braves made a series of roster moves this morning prior to their rain enforced double-header with the Phillies

According to David O’Brien (Twitter link) the Atlanta Braves placed their primary catcher and human baseball magnet on the 10-day DL due to a wrist contusion. Flowers took a foul off his wrist Monday night and was also hit on that wrist by Aaron Nola in the fifth inning of that game.

Moving Flowers to the DL required a roster move and in this case both a 25 man and 40 man move was needed.

The new Atlanta Braves catcher

Replacing Flowers on the 25-man roster is David Freitas. His path to Atlanta proves that baseball is a small world of its own.

Freitas was a 15th round selection of the Nationals in 2010 draft.  Prior to the 2012 season Baseball America ranked him the Nationals #27 prospect. In July of 2012 the Nats traded him to Oakland in 2012 for current Braves #2 catcher that brought Kurt Suzuki.

Oakland promoted him to AAA in 2013 but traded him to Baltimore after the season for. . . Jim Johnson. In 2015 Oakland lost Freitas to the Cubs in the minor league round of the Rule 5 draft and the Braves signed him as a minor league free agent in January.

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This will be his first taste of major league play and it’s backing up the man he was traded for and potentially catching a man who he was traded for.

At the plate Freitas’ AAA numbers who he gets on base at a good clip but produced little in the way of power.

Making way for Freitas on the 40 man roster is Enrique Burgos who was designated for assignment this morning.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here but. . .

Monday’s HBP was Flowers’ 18th of the year and it’s surprising he hasn’t had a more serious injury so far as a lot of those have been on his forearm. the number of players getting hit is rising and MLB has to do something to quell that trend.

The answer is not in most cases, to punish the pitchers but to tell umpires to enforce rule 5.05 (b) (2).

"He is touched by a pitched ball which he is not attempting to hit unless (A) The ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, or (B) The batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball; (2) If the ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a strike, whether or not the batter tries to avoid the ball. If the ball is outside the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a ball if he makes no attempt to avoid being touched."

Hitters today may turn their backs to the ball but rarely make a genuine attempt to get out of the way. This isn’t a new issue but it is escalating as hitters take exception to almost any pitch inside.

This generates hard feelings on both sides and frustrates pitchers particularly when the ball is in the strike zone and the batter is awarded first base.

Over the years umpires have shown themselves less and less willing to enforce the rule making it harder to suddenly enforce it now. Nevertheless that must happen or someone is going to be seriously hurt with a perfectly legal pitch.

Pitchers have a right t throw off the plate inside without being concerned that a batter willing to take one for the team will simply stand like a statue and get first base.

An ‘attempt to avoid’ does not mean turning your back so it hurts less. It means trying to get out of the way. Until batters understand that they will get hit and should not be awarded first base .

That’s A Wrap

I expect Suzuki to pick up most of the catching duty until Flowers returns. Freitas will likely catch on of the games today and maybe a day game after a night game.

Next: Coppy speaks...

Barring a bad MRI result Flowers should return on time. Until then the lineup will be less effective and some pitchers will have to learn to throw to a new backstop.

I wish Freitas the best of luck with R.A. Dickey.