Atlanta Braves announce 2019 rotation and projected lineup
By Fred Owens
The Atlanta Braves announced their starters for the opening series, the rotation for the next series, and the projected lineup.
As John noted a few hours ago, the Atlanta Braves sent Touki Toussaint, Adam Duvall, and Dan Winkler to Gwinnett.
Toussaint’s second consecutive rough outing yesterday influenced the demotion, but getting hit on the foot with a line drive in that game played into the decision as well.
He stayed in the game, so nothing’s broken, but something like that can throw mechanics off and cause other injuries. Dizzy Dean’s career effectively ended when he got hit on the foot with a liner. The trip to Gwinnett allows him time for that foot to get better without putting him on the injury list.
Dan Winkler entered the game after Toussaint left and had a really bad outing. Winkler wasn’t awful – until yesterday – this spring, but the Braves used him for only 5 1/3 innings. The low innings count could indicate the Braves had other concerns.
Who gets a bullpen job?
It’s still early and no formal announcements accompanied the roster changes, but several names are clear favorites.
In the bullpen, Wes Parsons is a lock to get an opening day job. He started the spring solid and eliminated any doubt with 2 1/3 solid innings against the Mets.
This is Wes Parsons.
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) March 23, 2019
Wes Parsons owns a 0.00 ERA with 15 strikeouts and 1 walk over 13.1 IP for the @Braves this spring.
Wes Parsons is good at baseball. pic.twitter.com/aPhZlB2qwH
Josh Tomlin is a bullpen member on opening day as well. Although listed as a right-handed starter on the spring training list, he’s seen only as a long man. I’m not confident he’s worth the spot, but maybe the NL will take a while to find out about him. In that time he can eat innings the Braves don’t want on the young arms.
Winkler’s departure for Triple-A combined with injuries to A.J. Minter and Darren O’Day, weaken the backend of the pen. Right now the bullpen set up something like this.
- Arodys Vizcaino (rhp) (cl)
- Jesse Biddle (lhp)
- Shane Carle (rhp)
- Jonny Venters (lhp)
- Wes Parsons (rhp)
- Josh Tomlin (rhp) (long relief)
- Luke Jackson (rhp)
- Chad Sobotka (rhp)
If/when Vizcaino struggles, Venters may get a shot against lefties or Manager Brian Snitker could toss a dart at a list of names.