DENVER – Earlier this week, when the Braves were at home, manager Brian Snitker and president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos called Spencer Schwellenbach into Snitker’s office. They told him their plan: In an attempt to manage his workload, they would be pushing him back a few days, but they wanted him to be ready to pitch on Sunday at Coors Field.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know how many innings I was at, because when I look at my MLB innings, it’s 65 or whatever, and I didn’t even really know how many I threw in the minors,” Schwellenbach said ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Rockies. “But then when they pulled me in the office and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re at this many innings,’ I was like, ‘Oh wow.’ I know the goal was to try to get to, like, 125, 130, maybe 150 this year – and I’m gonna blow that out of the water.”
Schwellenbach is at 64 2/3 innings – in the big leagues alone. Between the minors and majors, he’s hurled 109 2/3 frames.
Last season, he logged 65 innings.
“So I mean, I understood,” Schwellenbach said of the team pushing him back. “But like, I want to pitch. But yeah. They’re trying to get people rest and I maybe could’ve used it, I don’t know. I feel good, so I didn’t really have a preference, I guess.”
That’s the biggest news here: Schwellenbach feels good. So if you were worried about him dealing with an injury, you can take a deep breath.
And his comment about wanting to pitch shouldn’t be taken as him not agreeing with the team. He just meant that he wouldn’t have thought about needing extra rest because he feels well and loves to pitch.
Schwellenbach last pitched on Aug. 2. This means he’ll go eight days between starts – the longest time between outings in his short major-league career. But he hasn’t yet pitched on regular rest (four days between starts) at this level.
“They do a really good job with giving us rest when needed,” Schwellenbach said. “Honestly, I feel good on day five to pitch, so I don’t think it’ll be that much of a difference throwing on four days, five days, six days – just because I’ve done it all. In college, I’d throw on zero days’ rest sometimes, and threw 60 pitches and then was asked to pitch again the next day. And then last year (in the minors) was all six days (of rest), seven days, so I’m good to do whatever. Just get my bullpen in in between and sharpen things up, and I’m good to go.”
The Braves are trying to build in extra rest for their starters in order to avoid more injured list trips for guys. Yes, they’re battling for a postseason spot. But they’d rather go a few extra days without Schwellenbach than, say, three or four weeks because they pushed him too hard and he ended up on the injured list.
When Reynaldo López (right forearm inflammation) comes off the injured list later this month, the Braves likely will have starters going every five days more often because they’ll have one less rotation spot with which to play.
Schwellenbach has exceeded expectations. He has a 4.04 ERA through 11 big-league starts, but that number is inflated by a couple rough outings.
In his last five starts, though, he posted a 2.45 ERA over 33 innings. In three of those, he’s gone seven innings. He’s had back-to-back double-digit strikeout games.
“Absolutely, it’ll be good for him to experience and go the whole way here as a starter,” Snitker said. “He’ll come to spring training with a little bit better of an idea of what he’s in for, and when he does his offseason workouts and everything. He’s been really good. But it’s been an education for him. I think he’s kind of leaning on some of the older guys here as far as the (bullpen sessions) and things like that, and how to go about that over the long season, with what he’s doing. He’s figured it out pretty good.”
Understandably, the Braves are trying to protect Schwellenbach as his innings total continues to rise. Remember this, too: He didn’t begin pitching until later in his college career, so he’s thrown more this season than at any other point in his baseball life.
The organization is taking care of him – including with the elite recovery resources he now has access to in his major-league life.
“They’ve got so much stuff here to get you feeling good,” Schwellenbach said. “I mean, it’s a lot different than the minor leagues. You’ve got thousands and thousands of dollars of equipment there to use. On those days that you’re maybe feeling a little bit more sore, you hook yourself up to it and you feel better after. There’s a lot of resources, great training staff, to help us out.”
A lefty-righty decision
The Braves on Thursday designated Eddie Rosario for assignment.
Left-handed hitting Michael Harris II will be coming off the injured list soon, which made Rosario somewhat redundant. The Braves will have two lefties in Jarred Kelenic and Harris. Jorge Soler, Ramón Laureano and Adam Duvall are their right-handed hitting outfielders.
It’s also tough to ignore this: Rosario hit .154 over 78 at-bats for Atlanta. He didn’t give the team much. Laureano, who could’ve found himself as the odd man out, can defend and has hit well in spurts.
Kelenic in left, Laureano in center
Snitker on Friday put Laureano in center field and Kelenic in left field. Soler was in right field.
Coors Field features a massive outfield. There’s a lot of real estate out there. And center left and left field are the most important outfield spots here.
Laureano has played more center field than Kelenic over their careers, and Kelenic has played more left than Laureano. Laureano hasn’t ever appeared in left field over his career.
Swapping bullpen arms
On Thursday, Parker Dunshee made his MLB debut. But the 2 1/3 innings he worked made him unavailable on Friday, so the Braves optioned him to the minors.
They brought up lefty Zach Logue to be a fresh arm.
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