The Braves made a series of moves Saturday, including optioning two players to the alternate training site.
Left-hander Drew Smyly was reinstated from the 10-day injured list (forearm) and will start Saturday night against the Diamondbacks. It will be his first start since April 11.
In a corresponding move, the Braves optioned infielder Sean Kazmar to the alternate site. Kazmar, 36, became baseball’s feel-good story of the season last weekend when he was promoted to the majors after spending more than 12 years in the minor leagues since his last MLB appearance in 2008. Kazmar appeared in one game, pinch-hitting April 17 and hitting into a double play.
“We finally got him up here, so now I don’t think it’ll be such a big deal if we want to bring him back, if we feel he can help us,” manager Brian Snitker said. “It’ll be good for him to go down and start playing again. ... This was a great opportunity. Everybody felt good with him here. He provides you some flexibility. The whole thing is still really cool that he got up here.”
The Braves also reinstated outfielder Cristian Pache (groin) from the 10-day injured list and optioned him to the alternate site. The move means Guillermo Heredia will continue to play center field.
“(Pache) is back healthy, played in an alternate game yesterday,” Snitker said. “We’re just getting him some consistent at-bats again. He wasn’t swinging the bat well, so hopefully he can get down there, get back in the fray a bit and get himself going.”
Before suffering a groin strain, Pache was 4-for-30 (.133) in 11 games. Pache’s replacement, Ender Inciarte, suffered a hamstring injury last weekend that forced Heredia into action. Heredia has responded by hitting .286 with two doubles, two homers and six RBIs in seven games. He did the bulk of that damage April 18 with a two-homer, six-RBI performance against the Cubs.
Thanks to Heredia’s recent play, the Braves decided to stick with him for now and let Pache develop at the alternate site. The Triple-A season begins in early May, and Snitker said there isn’t a timetable for when Pache could return to the majors.
“We just want him to go down there and get going in that situation, get hot,” Snitker said. “Heredia is doing a really good job right now for us, so it’s not imperative that (Pache) is back here. He was struggling mightily when he was here. So hopefully he can get some confidence going and get his swing back going.”
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