Atlanta Braves add relief pitcher Brad Brach to the 25-man roster, DL Sam Freeman

Braves have added recently acquired relief pitcher Brach to roster

The Atlanta Braves acquired right-handed relief pitcher Brad Brach from the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday evening.  In exchange, the Braves sent $250,000 of international signing bonus allocation money to BMore.

Brach was a AL All-Star two seasons ago (2016), but in 2018 holds a 4.85 ERA and left-handers are hitting .342 against him.  While Zach Britton was recovering from injury earlier this season, Brach was the Orioles closer.  He did close out 11 games and only had two blown saves.

In July and since Britton’s return to the Orioles roster, Brach has a 10.80 ERA in the last eight games of the month.

“Look, he’s not having the year he’s had in the past, but we think there is some upside there based on what he’s done in the past,” Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos told the media on Monday.  “He’s had some bad luck.  There could be some things with his mix, some tweaks we could make to get him back to the high level he’s performed at in the past.”

The 32-year-old’s MLB contract will expire at the conclusion of the 2018 season so this is simply a rent-a-player deal for the Braves.  Unless, they love him and he loves it here and want to work out an offseason deal.

To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Braves transferred right-handed starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy to the 60-day DL.  I guess that’s not a good sign for McCarthy…

With the addition of a player from the 25-man roster, there must be a subtraction.  With Brach being added to the team, the Braves placed left-handed pitcher Sam Freeman on the disabled list.

Freeman gets the DL spot with a “left shoulder inflammation” tag.  It’s very possible Freeman is having some issues with his arm, but you never know with this pop up injuries.

The 31-year-old lefty will be placed now on the 10-day DL and it will be retroactive to July 29th.

Freeman was extremely successful for the Braves in 2017.  In 58 games appeared in, he held a 2.55 ERA with 59 strike outs and 27 walks.  Against left-handed batters he really excelled in.  He held them to a .189 batting average, gave up only one home run, two doubles, six walks and had 28 strikeouts.  Against right-handed batters, he was still good in 2017.  He held them to a .236 batting average, gave up two home runs, four doubles, 21 walks and had 31 strikeouts.

2018 hasn’t been the same for Sam Freeman though.  Some may argue that he’s been used way too much.  He’s appeared in 49 games already and has a 5.45 ERA.

All numbers are up from both sides of the plate.  Against left-handed batters he has a .207 batting average with three doubles, two home runs, 11 walks and 21 strikeouts.  Against right-handed batters he has a .253 batting average, with three doubles, one home run, 16 walks and 22 strikeouts.

He simply isn’t getting the job done when needed for the Braves.  In his nine appearances in July, he’s allowed at least one run in four of the games and has walked at least one hitter in six appearance.