4/30 News, Links, Discussion: Braves-Pirates, Gattis Promoted, Weekend Roundup
April 30, 2012 at 12:06 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Hoping for Another Series Win
The Braves and Pirates will face off one more time in April, as Atlanta is seeking its sixth straight series win and sixth this month. Monday’s 4-3 win assured the Braves of only one series loss in the month, that being the opening-series sweep by the Mets. Game time is 7:10 on SportSouth. James McDonald and Mike Minor will start.
Braves lineup: Michael Bourn (CF), Martin Prado (LF), Freddie Freeman (1B), Brian McCann (C), Dan Uggla (2B), Chipper Jones (3B), Eric Hinske (RF), Tyler Pastornicky (SS), Mike Minor (P).
Pirates lineup: Jose Tabata (R, RF), Josh Harrison (R, SS), Andrew McCutchen (R, CF), Casey McGehee (R, 1B), Neil Walker (S, 2B), Yamaico Navarro (R, LF), Pedro Alvarez (L, 3B), Rod Barajas (R, C), James McDonald (R, P).
Game Notes
Update (4:50p): Jason Heyward is sitting with what is described as soreness in his right oblique (original tweet says left, was corrected to right). Heyward says there is no tightness and believes he just needs a day or two. Obliques are nothing to fool around with, though, so I hope he doesn’t try to come back too soon. Eric Hinske takes his spot in right field.
Minor showed some fortitude in his last start against the Dodgers, giving up three runs on eight hits but not walking any and lasting six innings. It’s a game where Minor may not have had his best stuff, but it was a statement that he stayed in to last six and maintained solid control. Minor has gone at least six innings his each of his last three starts.
McDonald had a start to remember in his last time out, although the final line may not show it. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out eight over seven total innings, allowing one run on one hit and walking three. McDonald had previously been unable to rack up many strikeouts, with three being his previous high over three starts. But his 16 K% isn’t far off from his career mark of 19.3%, so he just doesn’t record a ton of punch outs. He does, however, record walks, as a 10.4 BB% shows.
McDonald throws a mix of different fastballs that all pitch to contact around 90-92 miles per hour, and his best off-speed offering is a curveball that he tosses 17% of the time. According to Brooks Baseball, his curve has resulted in a whiff/swing rate of 14.29% this year, and 33.33% over his career.
More Links
Per notes, Guy Curtright writes on Jason Heyward’s stolen base numbers, and Brian McCann and Chipper Jones being back in the lineup on Sunday.
AJC quotes following Sunday’s win. Tim Hudson: “My cutter was pretty good today. Nothing was great, but my cutter was pretty good, especially in on lefties. My location on my fastball wasn’t exactly how I wanted it but it was good enough. Between that and mixing in some curveballs and mixing in some splits, I was able to just keep them off-balance just enough and locate just enough.”
Catcher/outfielder/mainly hitter Evan Gattis was promoted to Double-A Mississippi. Gattis was hitting .385/.468/.821 with nine home runs in 94 plate appearances for Single-A Advanced Lynchburg. At 25 years old, that’s pretty much what a 25-year-old is supposed to do at Single-A Advanced, so we’ll see how he handles Double-A.
Former Braves reliever George Sherrill will undergo Tommy John surgery. Sherrill received a $1.1 million contract from the Mariners in December.
Kevin Goldstein ranks the top 12 prospects for fantasy purposes. Andrelton Simmons comes in at No. 11, while Julio Teheran dropped out because of his start last Wednesday (Insider required).
Baseball Prospectus and Brooks Baseball have teamed up and will provide coverage using BB’s data. This is great news and is heartily endorsed by us.
The Outside Corner’s Minor League Monday mentions Julio Teheran.
MiLB.com has an article on Teheran.
Around the NL East
On Sunday, Adam Kilgore reported Mark DeRosa was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique and called up Tyler Moore. The 25-year-old outfielder was hitting .286/.364/.597 with seven home runs in 88 plate appearances for Triple-A Syracuse. He started in left field on Sunday and went 1-3 with a single.
Moore wasn’t expected to be in the lineup on Sunday, but manager Davey Johnson scratched Jayson Werth with what was labeled “a manager’s decision.”
Marlins players are criticizing the team training staff for its work.
Tracy Ringolsby of FOX Sports features Mets outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Matt Filippi of The Hardball Times writes his State of the NL East.
Weekend Roundup
The scare of the weekend was Brian McCann’s strained intercostal muscle in his right side that forced him to exit Friday’s game early. However, he was back in the lineup on Sunday after waking up to minimal discomfort that morning, and things seem to be fine.
Keith Law reported a rumor that the Braves could be targeting high school shortstop Tanner Rahier in the first round of the draft (Insider required).
Bryce Harper was called up and made his major league debut on Saturday.
Tim Hudson made his season debut on Sunday, allowing two runs in five innings. Cory Gearrin was sent down to Triple-A to make room for Hudson.
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I don’t really buy the line that Gattis should kill Carolina League pitching because he’s 25. He’s 2 years removed from NAIA ball in Texas, and had been out of the game for 4 years. I realize he’s physically more mature than others he’s facing in that league, but so was Adam Dunn in high A and no one used that against him.
If he continues to hit at Mississippi, people are going to have to take notice.
i agree.,he also was serious dominant last year at Rome. With Bethancourt at Miss. I wonder how they will use him?
LF, DL, and some catching I am guessing.
Yeah I’d guess mainly LF and occasionally catch and DH. If he can just be average at all defensively in LF, he may have a future with the Braves.
If his OPS remains up over .800 or .900 in AA and AAA, I think we could see him in Atlanta at some point next year. A lot of “if’s” at this point, but he’s making a name for himself.
I’m excited to hear that Gattis is being possibly transitioned to the outfield. If he can continue to dominate in AA and possibly even make a move up to AAA this year then he could push for the LF job with Prado moving to 3B next year. Moving him out from behind the plate will actually keep his bat in the lineup more. We already have McCann and Bethancourt could be the next Braves catcher. Who cares that he is 25, he was out of baseball for 4 years, he needs a chance like some of the players that either took longer to develop or left the game for a while, 2 that come to mind are Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton.
I’m hoping for a compare/contrast entry on bullpen usage. But here is some evidence Fredi is managing the OVB much more conservatively, as instructed. Straight from DOB, OVB have pitched 12 2/3 fewer innings this April than last and come in just twice when trailing as opposed to 11 times last season.
Whenever he puts in Durbin I cringe. But, recently he has used him in a more limited role.
The problem as explained before wasn’t misuse of Kimbrel/Venters as much that is was unfortunate that the Braves were constantly in games that required them. There is plenty to fault Fredi for as a manager, but him using the best relievers at important times last year was not one of them.
Continuing to use Proctor and Linebrink were terrible ideas. This obsession he has is Durbin is absolutely catastrophic. Durbin has no business being on a major league roster.
If they’re going to move Gattis to the OF, that might mean they’re finally fed up with Adam Milligan getting injured constantly and they may be replacing him with Evan Gattis. This may not be the case, I’m merely speculating. I’m a fan of both players.
Hinske starting over Heyward. This is always a bad move, but McDonald is a rhp, making it even worse. Way to go, Fredi.
Per DOB, Heyward has a sore oblique. Hope this doesn’t linger.
Damn.
If you have to get Hinske a start, put Prado at 2B, Hinske in LF, and give Uggla his only rest of the season.
Is it just me, or are ESPN’s power rankings the most biased and laughable thing in sports? I believe I heard it’s supposed to take into account overall record + the previous week’s results, ranking the teams on who is the best “right now”. This would lead me to assume that even if a team were 28-8, if they went 0-6 the next week they should probably drop to #4 or #5 for that week. Apparently the 3rd aspect to the decision is history of the franchise and/or recent success, though, because certain teams always get no credit and others always get a “pass” for poor results. Yankees are ahead of the Braves, despite their 12-9 record (3-3 last week) while the Braves are 14-8 (4-2 last week). Phillies are #11 with one of the most pathetic offenses in baseball and 2 games under .500? Orioles are 14-8 in the AL EAST! And they are 12th!? Gimme a break. I could go on and discuss the Mets being #16 at 13-9 (5-1 last week), but that one is so unfair to them that it just angers me. Oh yeah, the Red Sox finally win a couple games and they jump up 14 spots to #10, even though they are still a measly 10-11. It’s such a joke.
I don’t have many problems with that. Taking your argument, one by one.
1) In many facits, the Yankees are better than the Braves.
2) The Phillies also have one of the best rotations in baseball. That alone keeps them in it.
3) The Orioles swept the Twins, got swept by the Yanks, 2/3 Blue Jays, 3/4 White Sox, lost 2/3 Angels, swept Blue Jays, 2/3 A’s. I don’t see a top 10 team there.
4) Mets. really?
5) Red Sox are the only ones I’m somewhat sceptical of, and even here, I’m not all that surprised that they’re in the top 10 with the offensive talent they have.
You’re missing the point of power rankings, I think…they are meant to rank teams week by week on how they rank RIGHT NOW. If they just ranked the teams best to worst, what would the point of it be? Sadly, that is pretty much what they do unless they are forced to alter it due to ridiculously lopsided records and results.
Who cares? The rankings are pure opinion and mean nothing.
Thanks for your input. If you don’t care, it’d probably be best just to refrain from responding…I care, because it reflects public opinion on how well teams are doing. Judging by the comments section underneath it, a lot of other people care also. Media, especially ESPN, has the power to spin things however they like and the majority of people they reach will believe it. In my opinion, it’d just be nice to have them use this power to accurately reflect what is going on for once and actually give credit where it is due. That’s my point, I guess. I know it doesn’t “matter”…that is obvious. But I’d like to see teams other than the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies get credit when they do things well, and I’d like to see those 3 teams suffer the consequences when they don’t do well.
You are putting way to much thought into it. If you are unhappy about the opinion on ESPN (which is driven primarily by market size), and you feel the need to have other’s validate your choice of team to follow, go somewhere else for it – you will never be happy with what they have to offer as long as you follow small to medium sized market teams.
I honestly don’t even get people like you…why do you feel the need to passive aggressively insult me with your responses? Why did you even respond in the first place? You’re assuming I need to go somewhere else to validate the team I root for? How about the other teams I don’t really care about that I noticed got screwed as well (even more so). I don’t get what your goal here is with this conversation…you obviously don’t care about the rankings, but I do. Why try to act like you’re better than me for it?
I think you are reading the wrong tone in my posts – I certainly don’t think I am better than you, I obviously know nothing about you. Nothing else to say about this really…
ugh – *too
Enter Durbin – there goes the game…
I told you lot yesterday I would be back to myself in no time, don’t really think it matters tonight but at least I have pitched myself back into form. Hail Fredi, a visionary before his time and a connoisseur of the dark arts of relief pitching and bullpen management.