Atlanta Braves Recall Swanson make minor moves

Minor league pitcher changes

The Atlanta Braves released lefties Oriel Caicedo and Zach Rice. Caicedo signed  as an international free agent in 2010 but never made it past A ball . Selected lefty in the 18th round of 2016 Rice started this season in A+ ball, posted a 10.38 ERA and the Braves released him. The Braves also added two minor league arms.

Alex Anthopoulos selected lefty Dan Lietz in the fifth round of the 2013 draft. The Jays converted him to relief in 2016 and he had some success in low A. Promotion to A+ saw his ERA rise sharply and the Jays released him in March.

On Wednesday the Braves claimed lefty Chad Bell off waivers from Detroit. In two short major league opportunities he failed to impress posting a 6.93 ERA, 5.70 FIP, 1.797 WHIP in 28 games – including four starts – during the 2017 season.

This season he made three relief appearances for the Tigers  pitching to a 8.59 ERA, 2.182 WHIP but more friendly 3.82 FIP in 7 1/3 IP. Jeff Todd on MLBTR believes he’ll work as a LOOGY.

"Odds are he’ll be seen as a lefty specialist or long relief possibility in Atlanta."

He’s on the 40 man roster so that’s possible but his numbers don’t support that very well. Here are his AAA splits – starts and relief appearances combined – from 2016 through this point in 2018.

While lefties don’t hit for much power against him they do hit. There’s just not much gain against LHH and we have much better options already available. Those numbers scream organizational depth.

Minor league catcher moves

The Braves selected Tanner Murphy as a catcher in the fourth round of the 2013 draft. In five seasons Murphy failed to move above A+ ball because he couldn’t hit.  This week the Braves sent his to Giants in exchange for cash.

Catcher Justin Morhardt didn’t last as long as Murphy. Selected  in the 17th round last summer he appeared in 19 GC Braves games in 2017 – none this year – and they released him last week.

According to the Atlanta Braves transactions page, back on May 2 they signed catcher Yuta Okazaki. I found him interesting; though he has little chance of making the majors but he’s clearly following a dream.

Born in Tokyo but raised in Greenwich Connecticut, Okazaki attended UConn-Avery Point for two years before transferring to Rollins College in Winter Park Florida.

At Rollins he played middle infield but never hit much. After graduation he began playing independent league ball. Primarily a catcher, he also made appearances at third and short and even pitched twice in 2017.

At some point in September 2017, he spent time working with Atlanta Braves pitching prospects.

It’s unclear how that came about but that was after his team beat Roswell for the league championship.  That would have put him in the area and available to workout with prospects awaiting the AZFL.

Hiss Twitter feed ( @yutayuta117) shows he’s a student of the game and shows he’s still trying to get better.

He seems like a fun follow and could easily be one of those guys who eventually slides into coaching at some level.