Atlanta Braves Ogando DFA; Mauricio Cabrera Called Up

Atlanta opts to move out veteran Ogando after tough Sunday outing; fireballer Cabrera promoted for first major league action.

It is wrong to say that the 32-year-old Alexi Ogando (3.94 ERA) was wrong for the Braves bullpen.  He did tend to have “on” or “off” outings, though that’s the case for many relievers.

Since going 2 perfect innings against the Giants on June 2nd, those “off” outings have been a bit more common – 4 times yielding runs in 10 appearances, and in each case it was 2 or more.

But the Braves are on a youth movement quest, and in truth, allowing Ogando to depart at this time should allow him the opportunity to latch on to another major league club.  It would appear that John Coppolella was unable to trade the veteran, but that itself does not mean that there was no interest in his services.

Update:  and indeed…

In fact, Ogando still has life in his arm:  94 mph fastball average, which is consistent with his heater of the past several years.  His slider and change are a couple of ticks lower than usual, but that tends to only enhance the fastball, though he is being hit at a higher rate this year.

In any case, we wish Ogando well, and hope to see him on another mound soon.

The Long Journey

Mauricio Cabrera was an International signee of the Braves, and debuted in 2011 as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League.  He hails from there, and has been highly touted for several years due to his fastball velocity, which has hit 103.

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The knock on Cabrera has always been command… and it still is, to be frank.

He was converted to a relief role for good in 2015 after the command issues and some injuries slowed his progress through the system.  Nonetheless, he’s still just 22 years old – won’t be 23 until September.

Cabrera will be joining the big club directly from AA Mississippi.  In almost 34 innings, he posted 35 strikeouts… and 22 walks, a figure that leads all non-starters on that club.

The walks have been a bit here-and-there with him:  none in either of his last two appearances, then 3 (in 1.1 inning appearance), 0, 1, 0, 1.  Before that, the frequency was certainly higher, so… maybe… a little better lately?  That’s the hope, at least.

We’ve seen this kind of high-wire act before:  Juan Jaime, whose stay was short due to an inability to throw strikes.

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But congratulations to this former Top 10 prospect… let’s hope that his fastball stays in the zone and that hitters can’t keep up.