Report: Atlanta Braves appear to be ready to recruit a fifth starter

admin | April 14, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The Atlanta Braves may have finally decided on their fifth starter.

The Atlanta Braves lost top starter Spencer Strider to a UCL surgery, which will keep him out for at least the rest of 2024. Naturally, this has raised worries about who Atlanta will use in the postseason as they try to shake the “Philadelphia Phillies” monkey off their back.

But it raises another, more pressing question: How do you replace those innings in the rotation during the regular season? Strider made 32 starts and pitched 186.2 innings last season, and someone must cover those innings.

And the Braves may have just decided on Bryce Elder as Strider’s long-term replacement in the rotation.

Elder, 24, was named an All-Star for the first time in his career last season. Elder was called up after one minor league start and had a 2.97 ERA in the first half of the season, going 7-2 in 18 MLB starts. However, in his first complete major league season, the effort caught up with him, and the sinkerballer struggled down the stretch, posting a 5.11 ERA in only 13 starts.

Elder was not Atlanta’s first choice to replace Strider on a weekly basis, given the timing of everyone’s pitches. Elder started for AAA Gwinnett the day following Strider’s final outing, while Bryce went four innings against Louisville and received no decision. With the bullpen stretched thin following Strider and Saturday starter Max Fried’s brief appearances, the decision was made to call up Allan Winans, the projected Sunday starter in Gwinnett, instead of Elder in case Winans was required out of the bullpen.

But Atlanta made it through the rest of the homestand without requiring Winans to pitch in relief, so he took Strider’s next turn in the rotation against the New York Mets on Thursday (and it did not go well). Darius Vines was the next AAA starter called up after Winans was demoted, and he was anticipated to follow in Winans’ footsteps by serving as a relief option if necessary and starting if not needed before the team flies to Houston to face the Astros early this week.

There are reasons to suspect Elder is about to be called up by Atlanta. The first is that he was mentioned as the intended starter for Gwinnett in the team’s postgame comments from Saturday’s loss to Omaha, but was apparently scratched, with Huascar Ynoa taking his place.

The second is Atlanta’s declared rotation for the Astros series; they’ve bumped Reynaldo López back a day to Tuesday rather than Monday, which is his typical day off because he generally follows Charlie Morton, today’s starter, in the rotation. Instead, Monday is marked as a TBD in the team’s game notes.

It appears that one of two scenarios is likely here:

The first option is that Darius Vines will be utilized in relief tonight and then sent down to AAA Gwinnett after the game, with Bryce Elder making the same move and starting Monday in Houston.

Given recent bullpen usage, using Vines today does not appear to be an absolute necessity – Dylan Lee, one of Atlanta’s two preferred multi-inning options, threw 35 pitches on Thursday and could be available today, though the Braves typically give him three days off if his pitch count exceeds thirty in an outing.

Jesse Chavez, the other ‘long man’ in the pen, tossed 20 pitches in a one-inning stint on Saturday and might pitch again today, though Atlanta would probably like to rest him and limit him to one inning at most. Lee (35 throws), Chavez (20), and Tyler Matzek (21) have all thrown 20 or more pitches in the last three days, which is usually a sign that a team would prefer to avoid utilizing that reliever if possible. (In contrast, Joe Jimémez and Raisel Iglesias have not pitched since Tuesday and are almost certain to be employed today.)

The second scenario is that Vines will start on Monday and then be sent back to Gwinnett, with Elder getting called up as a result. This seems doubtful, however, given that Elder has not made an official appearance since April 6th, his last start in AAA. Would Atlanta really want him to wait and not throw in a game until his time in the MLB rotation returned (which would be next Sunday, the 21st, at home against the Texas Rangers), or would they rather push Chris Sale and Charlie Morton back to employ Elder on Friday night at home?

(Another scenario is that Atlanta uses Vines on Monday, makes the roster move for Elder, and then starts him on Wednesday, pushing Max Fried to Friday. Typically, the organization would not name Fried as Wednesday’s starter if they were considering going this route, but it is possible.

Of course, it is very possible that Elder will not start for Gwinnett on Sunday because he awoke feeling poorly or did not get enough sleep. Baseball gods can be fickle at times.