Atlanta Braves Spring Chop – News and Notes So Far
Catch Up on Braves’ News From Spring Training
> The Big One: Freeman’s Wrist
If you missed this story, then don’t: catch it from this link. This is close to the worst news we could here getting started here in Florida. Still, it’s hard to get a read from Freddie on exactly what he’s trying to say… though anything short of “100%” means that even this statement is… raising caution flags:
Freeman: "there's no setbacks. When you're coming off a wrist injury like I did last year you want to make sure everythings ok" #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) February 23, 2016
Dave’ O’Brien used the word “frustrated” to describe Freeman’s thoughts about his wrist…unfortunately, that tells us what we need to know.
> What’s on Second
Still to be determined… and it will likely take some game action to help figure this out. Jace Peterson thinks he’s healthy and ready to go – and believes he can hit LH pitching.
Though the #Braves might be planning to platoon at second base, Peterson is confident he'll be better vs. LHPs pic.twitter.com/aCU6IRoAra
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) February 23, 2016
Meanwhile, Gordon Beckham… the other half of that platoon that we’ve been figuring would happen… isn’t entirely set on playing second very much:
#Braves say they'll give Beckham a look at 3B, where he hopes to win starting job https://t.co/lIsYdJ8c3G
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 23, 2016
Who knows? Maybe Beckham gets third base when RH pitchers are going; second base for southpaws… while Jace and Adonis Garcia handle those bags against RHP and LHP, respectively.
Something tells me that Beckham already has big plans for his incentive clause monies.
> Manny Banuelos, leading rotation candidate
Full story link by Dave O’Brien is contains within the tweet below:
Starting-rotation candidates Banuelos, Kendrick impress #Braves officials in early workouts https://t.co/uNu6tW4Lqb
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 24, 2016
No word at this time on how any other pitchers are looking, but Banuelos – having left 2015 early to get his elbow cleaned up – has apparently responded well to that procedure and is throwing like the prospect the Braves’ hoped they had received from the Yankees in exchange for … well, I guess it’s just Chasen Shreve now that they have David Carpenter back.
So as of right this moment, the Opening Day starting 5 would have to lean toward these names:
- Julio Teheran
- Bud Norris
- Matt Wisler
- Manny Banuelos
- Kyle Kendrick
… but there’s a lot of Spring to get through, yet.
Next: A couple more notes...