NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Braves further trimmed their roster Wednesday, optioning right-hander Touki Toussaint and outfielder Drew Waters to Triple-A Gwinnett before their afternoon game against the Rays.
Toussaint made one appearance this spring, allowing one run on four hits in two innings. He will continue to log innings in minor-league camp. Command issues have prevented Toussaint from establishing himself in the majors. He pitched in only 11 games last season.
“There’s not enough innings,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We need to get Touki stretched out. We’re going to need him. We’ll use a lot of guys, and who knows what’s going to happen? We wanted to keep him going and keep building him up. There just weren’t innings here.”
The Braves have four other pitchers competing for two rotation spots: Huascar Ynoa, Kyle Wright, Kyle Muller and Tucker Davidson. It’s still possible the team adds another starter, as it did with Anibal Sanchez when the Twins released him in March 2018. Sanchez became a pleasant surprise, earning a 2.83 ERA in 25 games for a surprising 90-win team. Perhaps the Braves strike gold with another veteran who shakes loose.
Waters, 23, has seen his prospect status dip in the past two years. He’s coming off an up-and-down 2021 campaign in which he hit .240/.329/.381 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs at Triple-A Gwinnett. An Etowah High graduate, Waters will need a strong showing this season to work his way into the major-league mix.
The Braves are down to 52 players in camp.
BRAVES NOTES:
- Snitker admitted getting his starters and position players ready during a truncated spring training is challenging. Teams also were tasked with a unique build-up process in summer 2020 when MLB returned from its pandemic-forced hiatus.
“We can throw them on the back fields if we need to split them to create innings, just like we’re doing with some of our position players to catch up with some at-bats,” he said. “We can run them in the minor-league games and let them get three, four, five, six at-bats a day if they want. So there are ways you can do that. With our starters, someone is going to have to pitch in a minor-league game because we’re going to run out of (major-league) games. We pretty much need them to do the ups and downs. That’s the biggest thing.”
- Snitker reiterated this week that outfielder Ronald Acuna won’t appear in a spring game, even as a designated hitter. Acuna tore his ACL in July, missing the remainder of the season and triggering the trade deadline that propelled the Braves to a championship.
The Braves have pegged a potential late-April debut for Acuna, who would begin the season as a DH. He isn’t expected to handle outfield duties until May. He will embark on a rehab assignment before joining the active roster. Acuna, one of the game’s brightest young stars, hit .283 with a .990 OPS across 82 games before his injury last season.
- During Wednesday’s game against the Rays, third baseman Austin Riley and shortstop Dansby Swanson each hit mammoth homers off Rays starter Shane McClanahan. It was the first spring homer for both players. Riley added another shot in the fifth. The Braves and Rays tied, 7-7.
- New Braves first baseman Matt Olson showed his thunderous power Tuesday when he smacked a ball to deep center that was snagged on an impressive grab by Twins center fielder Byron Buxton. Olson was 2-for-6 this spring entering Wednesday.
“He’s a really, really good player,” Snitker said. “We knew that when we got him, and he’s fit right in here. He’s been awesome. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a very productive, good player that we got.”
- As for old Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, he made his Dodgers debut Tuesday. Freeman hit third and manned first base, going 1-for-2. His single was an opposite-field hit, and he saw eight pitches in his second at-bat before grounding out.
- Ian Anderson is scheduled for his first spring start Thursday against the Blue Jays, though the weather forecast doesn’t look promising. Anderson had a 3.58 ERA over 24 starts last season, which was his first full campaign in the majors.
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