The Atlanta Braves have seen the latter of their pitching depth carousel for the majority of the season. Atlanta has certainly been advantageous with their utilization of the injuried list and options among their pitching staff. Probably more so than any other team in baseball.
Today, Jared Shuster was called back up to join the big league club for the third time this season. The Braves have been locked in a taxing series with the Philadelphia Phillies, so Shuster will provide a much needed fresh arm.
Last night, Atlanta won their second game in 10 innings in as many days with the Phillies, edging them by one run in a 7-6 final. The magic number now sits at two, so if Atlanta beats Philadelphia tonight they will clinch their sixth straight NL East title.
As I mentioned these past three games have been taxing on the Braves pitching staff, including closer Raisel Iglesias and set-up man A.J. Minter pitching on three consecutive days. That means if the Braves want to clinch tonight they will need some help from many of the other members of their deep bullpen.
Shuster likely only enters this game if the scoreboard gets one-sided early. With Spencer Strider on the mound tonight let’s hope for a bit of sweet revenge via another dominant Strider outing.
On the 2023 season, Shuster owns a 4-3 record, 5.26 ERA, and 4.95 FIP. His last outing came on August 27th against San Francisco, in that outing he went 4.2 innings and allowed four earned runs.
AJ Smith-Shawver was the man who was sent down to make room for Shuster. However, don’t expect Smith-Shawver to be down in Triple-A too long as he has been mentioned as a possible postseason bullpen piece. The Braves will try and clinch their sixth straight NL East crown tonight at Citizens Bank Park.