Two significant roster updates for the Atlanta Braves

It’s a pair of surprises for the Atlanta Braves, who hope both will be upgrades.

After a pregnant pause that had many pondering whether the Atlanta Braves had a trade deal in the works (and that could still be the case), the team announced two welcomed roster moves this morning:

• Ian Anderson, their top pitching prospect, is being promoted to the majors
• Ronald Acuna Jr. is being activated from the Injured List

Touki Toussaint and Alex Jackson were optioned out to clear the space on the active roster for Anderson and Acuna.

The “gotcha” for Anderson is that his debut start will come against the New York Yankees and opposite their ace Gerrit Cole, clearly a daunting task.

But the (16-9) Yankees themselves have lost three in a row and have slipped to second place in the AL’s Eastern division behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees haven’t even played since August 20 as the Rays swept them, thanks to COVID-19 issues involving the Mets.

The 22-year-old Anderson becomes the third high-profile Atlanta Braves prospect to debut this season after catcher William Contreras and outfielder Cristian Pache.

All indications are that he’s been pitching at a high level at the Alternate Training Site (i.e., “Gwinnett”) and recently struck out 12 of his teammates over six innings in a special intra-squad game held at Truist Park.

That will certainly be helpful for him as it provides experience on the very mound he’ll use tonight.

Anderson, originally from Rexford, NY (high school in nearby Clifton Park, north of Albany), was the third overall pick of the Braves in the 2016 draft.

He has progressed methodically through the minors, reaching AAA in 2019.  His best performance in “organized” action was a 3.08 ERA at Mississippi last season.

We don’t have any details about his work this Summer other than the single note above, but the organization clearly believes that it’s time to give him his shot — even though he’s clearly drawing a difficult assignment.

Braves’ Acuna Back

The Braves will definitely be bolstered with Ronald Acuna’s presence tonight, as well.  While the team has maintained first place (or thereabouts, given the Marlins odd situation) since his August 15 IL placement, there’s little doubt that having his bat in the lineup makes all those around him better.

He hurt a wrist on a head-first slide.  Things to watch for will be whether he’s swinging freely and whether there’s signs of any possible weakness or pain lingering.

That’s the kind of problems that have plagued Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, and now Ozzie Albies with their own wrist issues over the past 2-3 years.  They weren’t hurt so much defensively, but definitely were on offense.

So it will be like a renewed lineup tonight for the Atlanta Braves:  a highly anticipated return and a highly anticipated debut.

It will be fun to watch all of that unfold — particularly against Cole and the Yankees.