Atlanta Braves news: injuries highlight hidden COVID-19 impact on the road

Why Those players?

The taxi-squad list changes with each road trip, so I don’t have a definitive list, but it isn’t hard to figure out.

In the post linked earlier, Schultz identified Camargo as a taxi squad member. Heredia, Kazmar, and Biddle were also taxi squad members because they joined the active roster immediately after the injuries. The catcher is likely Jeff Mathis, signed by the Atlanta Braves on March 30.

Why did the Atlanta Braves choose them? Remember Brian Snitker’s explanation for sending William Contreras to the Alternate Site?

"Contreras, he needs to play. We see him as an every-day guy. And he’s had a really good spring, and he’s getting better. He still has some defensive work to do and all. He’ll be sitting in on game planning and things like that. Just keep developing. We see him as a frontline guy.(my emphasis added)"

Taxi squad players do little more than play catch, throw a bullpen and get a round of BP, good warm-up tools, but by themselves, not player development tools.   It’s reasonable to conclude from his comment that the Atlanta Braves decided to put players they’ll depend on at Gwinnett to help them get game-ready, rather than play catch before games rather than sit in the stands and watch.

So, they brought players with Major League experience who are no longer developing and have cleared the protocols; players the Braves see as short-term assets rather than long-term additions to the team.

That’s a wrap

It’s possible to argue that the Atlanta Braves decision to carry expendables on the taxi squad was wrong, but stepping back, it doesn’t seem that way.

Heredia’s played well enough that he may see more starts than expected, and I can make a good case that, aside from his great story, Kazmar is a better hitter than Camargo right now and probably as good defensively.

Biddle is the clear “oops-event” that makes the decision look bad. However, had we not seen Newcomb head to the IL and Ynoa implode the same day, we would never have seen Biddle take the mound.

In the end, we won the series, and that’s always the goal.