Braves News: Matt Olson continues hot spring, more spring training cuts, more
By Eric Cole
We had some more Atlanta Braves spring training action yesterday and for the most part, it was a positive experience. Charlie Morton looked good on the mound aside from one swing, Ian Anderson looked much better than his last outing, and Matt Olson simply cannot be stopped. Unfortunately, spring training bullpens can often be quite bad and another late collapse led to the Braves losing on Sunday.
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Instead of doing giant waves of roster cuts, the Braves have been steadily chipping away at theirs which is probably a product of having some pitchers behind schedule and some other guys about to head to the World Baseball Classic and having to cover some innings as a result. Yesterday, they made another move as they sent Yacksel Rios over to minor league camp.
MLB News
Shohei Ohtani is still a freak of nature. Noted. Ohtani is over in Japan preparing to play for his national team in the World Baseball Classic. In an exhibition ahead of the tournament, Ohtani put on a show for the crowd as he hit an home run while on one knee over the center field wall. Oh, and he was suffering from jet lag, too.
The Mets are dealing with some pitcher injury issues as Jose Quintana had to leave his spring start after one inning. The word from Mets GM Billy Eppler is that Quintana had tightness in his left side. The issue is worrisome enough that Quintana will no longer play in the WBC and the hope is that he will still be ready for the start of regular season.
One of the biggest draws of spring training is seeing the players of the future in action. While we have covered the Braves prospects who have caught our eye in each game, the crew over at MLB.com put together a list of one prospect from each team that have turned heads in spring training. Surprisingly, the Braves choice was shortstop prospect Braden Shewmake.