Atlanta Braves Hector Olivera Is On Rehab Assignment In GCL, To Be Promoted Tuesday

Braves Olivera Is Back On The Field

Atlanta Braves outfielder/infielder, Hector Olivera had been suspended by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for 82-games for his arrest on domestic violence charges back in April.  On August 2nd he will be eligible to return to the major leagues.

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Hector Olivera situation, but we haven’t heard the entire story.  Soon though, we should be getting more details

Olivera has to make a statement to the fans and media about this situation if he ever wants to play in the major league again.  Braves President of Baseball Operations John Hart has said recently that he’s not sure if he’ll return to Atlanta or not.

He has however started to play ball again.

Olivera Era Part 2 Begins

On July 15th, Olivera started a rehab assignment with the Gulf Coast Braves and has now played in two games since his return.  Yesterday, he went 4-5 with a homer, a double, three RBIs and three runs scored.  He currently has a .833 batting average with a .889 on-base percentage (two walks and a hit-by-pitch) and a 1.500 slugging percentage.

The 31-year-old is rumored to play in one more game (Monday) with the GCL Braves and then be called-up to the Gwinnett Braves on Tuesday.

Once he gets promoted to Gwinnett, he’ll be bombarded with questions about the arrest, charges and what happened that night once he gets there.  Prior to these questions, Oliver will need to make a public statement to address this situation and apologize to the fans and front office.  He won’t be able to say much since the court date was pushed back, but he can give an apology.

Like I said earlier, August 2nd is the day Olivera can return to Atlanta, but the question of will he — and will he ever — still exist.

“No, there aren’t, and we told Hector the same thing,” Hart said when asked if there is a timeline in place.  “There just isn’t a guarantee, and I think there’s certainly going to be things we’re going to be looking at off the field and the progress that we think he’s made.”

So What Now With Hector?

In Florida a few weeks ago, Hart did speak with Olivera at the Braves extended spring training facility.  Hart told reporters that Olivera expressed remorse about the incident on April 13th, but Hart added that’s only a start in the forgiveness process.

“I think he’s making an honest effort to try and put himself back and sort of resurrect his career,” Hart said.  “Other than that, we’ll just follow it out, stay connected going forward. There’s a lot of things we can do come Aug. 2.”

Obviously the Braves offense would love to have his bat in the lineup as we rank last in runs scored and home runs in 2016 and we have the worst record in baseball with a 31-60.

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It’s going to be real interesting to see what the Braves choose to do with Olivera.  Can they/we forgive him for what he did?  Can they trade him?  Will he just rot in the minor leagues?

“This is where we’re at right now, and I think to the extent he wants to, those are the questions that should go Hector’s way when he comes back,” Hart continued about Olivera.  “I’m sure he’ll get a lot of those questions at Gwinnett and if and when he comes back here, he’ll have to answer those same questions.”

The interesting comment I see in that last quote (maybe reading too much into it) is when Hart said “if and when he comes back here”.  I think this opens the door to Olivera returning to Atlanta if he takes the right steps, addresses his mistake, possibly does outside treatment and gets his career back in order.  It’s possible…or it’s also possible he could take the Darryl Strawberry or Doc Gooden route (watch the newest 30 for 30) and never again get his life outside of baseball on track.

Olivera Does Good Deed To Teammates

On Sunday morning, Olivera put this video on social media saying “Esto es lo q me hace sentirme orgulloso y ser mejor persona siempre tratando d ayudar sin maldad sin esperar nada a cambio”

If you’re not a Spanish major, here’s the translation…

“This is what makes me feel proud and always trying to be a better person without malice help without expecting anything in return”

I can say, this could be step two for forgiveness