Why The Atlanta Braves Promoted Lane Adams, Why They DFA'd Chase d'Arnaud

Braves Make A Few Moves On Rain-Washed Afternoon

Okay, let’s spell this out for you right up top. Through 18 games, the Atlanta Braves have had two hits from their pinch hitters…TWO! While we’re here, how about we also include they’ve walked three times…JUST THREE!

If we dive just a little deeper into those stats, Braves primary catcher, Tyler Flowers, got one of those hits and two of the walks. Those were in the games that he was working his way back from his hamstring injury.

The Braves are 29th in the MLB (30 teams) in OPS with a .225 for 2017. In 34 plate appearances Braves pinch hitters have two hits and three walks. Braves current pinch hitter combined stats are .069/.156/.069 wow!

Heading into the season, many had huge questions about the Braves bench. We all thought we needed to add a couple additional pieces. Many names were thrown out there, but with already the highest payroll ever going into the season, Braves GM John Coppolella decided not to acquire anything more.

So it is what it is, Braves head into the 2017 season with a bench of Jace Peterson, Chase d’Arnaud, Kurt Suzuki (second catcher), Anthony Recker (yep, a third catcher) and Emilio Bonifacio (everyone’s favorite).

Eww…who is Brian Snitker going to call on in a big stop?

Let’s looks at some more numbers…as pinch hitters in 2017….

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Peterson is 0-for-3 with one RBI (a sac fly)

d’Arnaud is 0-for-3, one walk and one run

Suzuki is 0-for-2

Recker is 0-for-2

Bonifacio is 0-for-10 (0-for-12 in plate appearances) with two runs scored

That’s our bench wrapped up from a corner bar and served right to ya. “The Bench” is 0-for-20 at the plate. So if you remember I mentioned earlier that our pinch-hitters have two hits…well the one came from Flowers and the other from prospect Johan Camargo — who’s back down at Gwinnett.

Insert Into The Fast Lane, Lane Adams

Mr. Lane Adams. A lot of pressure has landed quickly on the shoulders of this 27-year-old.

For the Gwinnett Braves, he was hitting a cool .333/.352/.588 with four homers, 16 RBI’s and six stolen bases.

This guy is a vet…he’s been a professional ball player since 2009. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of Red Oak High School in Oklahoma.

Adams made it to the big leagues once before with the Royals in 2014. He didn’t really get a decent shot to show what he’s capable of there. He was a sub in six games, getting only three at-bats…went 0-for-3 at the plate.

He was a part of the Royals organization when they won the World Series in 2015 (though was in the minors). Before the 2016 season, the Royals let him walk and the New York Yankees selected him off waivers.

He hit pretty well within the Yankees organization, but they released him at the end of July…it may have been because of the strikeouts…had 94 k’s in 92 games.

The Chicago Cubs picked him up in early August and he continued to hit. He had seven homers and 13 steals within the final two months of the season.

All in all for 2016, he hit .266 with 10 home runs and 44 stolen bases. This is a 6’3″ 220-pound guy were talking about. Man can move!

And if you’ve been keeping track, the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Adams has been a part of the Royals and Cubs championship runs…though in the minors, but still a part of the organization. Can he bring the same luck to Atlanta?

Can he bring the same luck to Atlanta?

Chasin’ Me Out Already?

The Braves corresponding move was the DFA Chase d’Arnaud. It’s pretty unlikely that anyone will scoop him up off waivers so we’ve probably not seen the last of him. He’ll go down to Gwinnett and be there if we need him.

The 30-year-old is 3-for-8 at the plate in 2017 with five runs scored and two walks. Not too bad when given the opportunity. Problem is, those opportunities don’t come often.

Peterson has moved into the fourth outfielder role and now Adam will be in that mix.

The d’Arnaud move may have surprised folks today. Many wanted Bonifacio to be DFA’d. Yes, Boni has been ga’-awful, but he may have brought some value to other teams and/or still in a pinch running situation.

I think the Braves thought a team may have swooped in and claimed Boni off waivers and that’s why the Braves decided to go with moving Chase.

Roster Moves, But Real Roster Moves?

Yes, Braves did some shuffling on Tuesday, but no big roster moves took place.

Atlanta had one spot open on their 40-man roster so Adams was an easy fill-in. d’Arnaud was removed from the 25-man roster, but will stay on the 40-man roster if no one claims him.

Next: Braves 2017 MLB Draft: Early Prediction at #5

I’ll leave by saying…don’t expect this to be the final move. It’s Coppy, the Braves and baseball. Of course we’re going to see more action soon!

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Why The Atlanta Braves Promoted Lane Adams, Why They DFA’d Chase d’Arnaud

By Jeff Schafer | Apr 25, 2017