ST. LOUIS — The Braves’ surprising moves with two weeks remaining in spring training – optioning Ian Anderson and Bryce Elder while they kept Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd in camp – garnered a ton of attention.
But as they say in the baseball world: You can never have too much pitching, and situations almost always work themselves out.
Elder is back.
The Braves recalled him to start Wednesday in place of Max Fried, whom the Braves on Tuesday placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left hamstring.
“Hopefully he can do what he did last year when we brought him up for a few of those starts late in the year, and how well he did,” Snitker said. “It’s good to have that depth down there.”
In five starts during the second half of last season, Elder posted a 1.65 ERA over 32-2/3 innings. He struck out 33 batters and walked nine. His outstanding run included a shutout of the Nationals.
The Braves hope this pitcher is the one who shows up for Wednesday’s series finale in St. Louis.
In big-league camp, Elder surrendered eight runs over 11-2/3 innings before the Braves optioned him. He struck out nine batters and walked five. He didn’t blow away the Braves, but he has an early-season opportunity to show them something.
The Braves backdated Fried’s injured-list placement to April 1, which means he is eligible to return April 16. If he stayed on schedule, Fried was scheduled to start Wednesday, then April 10 versus the Reds at Truist Park, then again April 16 in Kansas City.
This means Fried, if he comes off the injured list on the first day he can, will miss only two starts. Right now, that’s all this is – an “if.”
“I’m glad it’s not any worse than what it is, but until he starts getting back on the mound and things like that, we really don’t know,” Snitker said.
The Braves have an off-day April 13, which helped them ensure they have to fill Fried’s spot in the rotation only twice if they placed him on the injured list by Tuesday and backdated it the maximum three days. Again, this only stands if he spends the minimum number of days on the injured list, and no one knows how he’ll recover between now and then.
On opening day, Fried departed the game early because he strained his left hamstring while running to cover first base. He is back in Atlanta receiving treatment, waiting to resume baseball activities.
Elder always seemed like the likeliest candidate to start Wednesday’s game. He pitched Friday, so he was lined up perfectly for this.
In Triple-A Gwinnett’s opener, Elder allowed four runs over six innings – though three of those runs scored on a three-run homer in the righty’s final inning. Elder struck out four batters and walked one.
Elder’s first big-league opportunity will come against the Cardinals, a potent lineup with numerous dangerous hitters.
Pillar stays ready
Kevin Pillar was in Tuesday’s lineup to make his Braves debut. He was batting ninth and in left field.
“Just wanted to get him out there,” Snitker said. “Just kind of pick a spot.”
How did Pillar stay ready?
“Just continued to put in work,” he said. “I come in with the mindset still that I’m gonna get an opportunity to play every day. It might not be to start the game, but there’s gonna be opportunities that present themselves during the game, so I feel like it’s my responsibility to prepare myself every day, whether it’s to pinch-hit, pinch-run, go play defense.
“And really just kind of watch the game the same way I would watch it as if I was playing, kind of studying the pitchers, watch guys at-bats in between, look at the outfield positioning, watch the guys’ swings and just really try to stay in tune as I can be with the game, so when I get out there, it doesn’t feel foreign.”
The difficult part: Players cannot re-create at-bats. Hitters can face velocity off a machine, so the game isn’t too fast when they receive an opportunity. But that’s about it.
And then there’s this: Players who don’t get consistent at-bats find it tough to achieve any sort of rhythm.
“Obviously an at-bat is an at-bat, but every at-bat is a little bit different, depending on the situation,” Pillar said.
Pillar entered the game Tuesday 0-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout versus Cardinals starter Steven Matz.
Braves like Anderson
When the Braves signed Nick Anderson, they hoped he eventually could come close to being the late-inning reliever he was in Tampa Bay, before the elbow injury.
Toward the end of spring training, they optioned him to preserve their depth. But he eventually made the opening-day roster when Raisel Iglesias and Kyle Wright began the season on the injured list.
On Monday, we gained a little insight into what the Braves think of Anderson: In a three-run game in the sixth inning, Snitker opted for Anderson with one out and one on base, with the top of the order due up for St. Louis.
Anderson struck out two batters to end the inning. He eventually struck out four over 1-2/3 innings. He gave up a run on a Paul Goldschmidt homer, but nothing else.
“There’s a guy that’s pitched in leverage innings over his career and been very good,” Snitker said. “Really, he’s kind of gotten better every outing as we’re getting him out there. He’s going to be big for us in our bullpen this year.”
Friday starter
Would the Braves consider a bullpen game for Friday, when they don’t have a starter? Or would it be too much with their next off-day not until April 13?
“I don’t know,” Snitker said. “We’re just trying to get there. We’ll see how we do, how we get there.”
The Braves have a deep bullpen. At this point, they’re also carrying an extra reliever. If they opted for a bullpen game Friday, they would need to cover five games after that before their next off-day.
For now, the Braves’ Friday starter is TBD.
About the Author
