Atlanta Braves Spring Chop: of rosters and rotations

The Fallout Shelter

With Luiz Gohara now on the shelf for a while, that does change things in the rotation.  That, and some 25-man roster moves highlighted the past couple of days:

He’s right – these are the more-or-less routine and expected cuts.  The only one in this group that might raise an eyebrow involves Mike Soroka.  Here’s why:

Things can still change – pulling Soroka back from the minor league camp would not be an unprecedented move – but as the primary pitchers in the rotation battle seek more innings, there’s only so much mound time to go around, and thus somebody has to go to the minors in order to get their own work in… and unfortunately Soroka (who is not on the 40-man roster) is among those who will be pitching against some lesser competition.

So that very likely will secure rotation spots for Teheran, McCarthy, Foltynewicz, and Newcomb… and they’ve been well-earned, too.

But let’s look at those numbers real quick for the 5th spot candidates:

• Matt Wisler – 0.00 ERA in 3 outings (7 innings) with zero walks and 5K.  0.71 WHIP.
• Max Fried – 7.71 ERA in 3 games/4.2 innings.  2BB/6K.*
• Lucas Sims – 9.00 ERA in 3 games/5 innings.  4BB/3K.*
• Mike Soroka – 1.80 ERA in 3 games/5 innings.  Zero walks, 5K.  0.40 WHIP.

* WHIP withheld for Fried/Sims since this is a family-friendly publication.

Aaron Blair has had 2 outings with the major league club – 0.00 ERA in just 3 innings (1BB, 0K, 3 hits).

So while there are still a couple of weeks for things to sort themselves out, Matt Wisler is looking like a new pitcher this Spring, and since injuries do happen, his efforts to get ready could pay off into some April starts.