Atlanta Braves News: Chop, Box, Rio Ruiz Should Keep 3B Job, BRAVES WIN!

Baseball Reference

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves took on the San Francisco Giants in game one of this three game series.  I applaud you if you live on the east coast and was able to stay up for this game…I’m not counting the young folks at the bar.  I made it to the bottom of the 9th inning and fell asleep.

Braves starting pitcher Jaime Garcia was fantastic…maybe the best I’ve ever seen him.  He pitched 6.2 innings, gave up four hits, no runs, two walks and five strikeouts.  He wasn’t very happy (and neither was Braves fam on twitter) about Snitker taking him out with two outs in the 7th inning, but I think it was the right move.  The Giants were sending up pinch hitter Mike Morse who absolutely destroys left-handed pitching and has a slash line of .313/.389/.625/1.014 against Garcia.  Jose Ramirez was able to get out of the 7th inning and we all moved on.

Atlanta’s bullpen was fantastic on Friday night once again.  A combination of 2.1 innings pitched, no hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

The best part of the night was the one scoring play…obviously!  The Braves were able to get two runs when Garcia, yes our pitcher Garcia roped a ball pasted the shortstop to score two runs.

Braves WIN 2-0

Call To The Pen

Atlanta Braves: Has Bartolo Colon finally run out of steam?

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Oh man, the other huge topic to debate…because why not.  We always have something to complain about.  Colon hasn’t been consistent in 2017, he’s struggled terrible at times.  

A huge question right now for the Braves is what do they do with the 44-year-old veteran starting pitcher?  Does he have any trade value?  Maybe to the Mets, but that’s probably it.  Can he be a long relief pitcher?  Maybe, but do we want that, or does he want that?  Should we just wait it out and see what happens?  Possibly.  What could be done is place him on the 10-day DL, let he collect his thoughts and try to come back after missing a couple starts.  Just a suggestion, doubt it would work for a vet like Colon, but at some point the Braves are going to have to try something.

"Over the offseason, the Atlanta Braves signed Bartolo Colon to a reported one-year, $12.5 million deal. Despite the fact that he was about to enter his age-44 season, Colon had proven over the past several years that he still had the ability to give a club quality starts.Prior to joining the Braves, Colon spent the last three years pitching for the division rival New York Mets. During his tenure in the Big Apple, he went 44-34 with a 3.90 ERA (96 ERA+) and a 1.225 WHIP. His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) was even a tad lower than his ERA at 3.79. Colon made at least 31 starts and pitched 190 or more innings in each of those three seasons as well.For the past several seasons, Colon’s average fastball has registered in only the low 90s, according to Brooks Baseball. He wasn’t exactly blowing hitters away, but he had excellent control, regularly posting a BB/9 of 1.50 or lower."

Next: Braves have traded a lot, every move in a chart

AJC

‘Big River’ should keep 3B job over Garcia

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Adonis Garcia played in his first rehab game on Friday night with the Gwinnett Braves.  He played third base and batted fifth in the lineup.  Braves are going to take it slow with him as he only got two at-bats and went 0-2 with a strikeout.  Manager Brian Snitker told reporters before the Atlanta Braves game that they were going to ease Garcia back into things because of his Achilles tendinitis injury.

Garcia will probably play in 3-4 games with the Gwinnett Braves before joining the boys in Atlanta.  It’s possible he plays more games in Triple-A, they’ll see how he progresses through the weekend. It’s possible he returns for the Angles series next week.

Until he returns, the debate is going to be all about who plays the third base position.  Rio Ruiz has been doing a great job at the plate since given the 3B keys and has done okay at third.  Yes, he’s made a few errors, bad plays, bad throws, didn’t get in front of balls, but he’s been solid.  I want him to keep the third base job even when Garcia returns.  Let Adonis pinch-hit and play third when facing lefties.  Just my stance.

"Garcia, who’s been out 10 days with Achilles tendinitis, will be activated next week provided there are no setbacks. But let’s be honest: There’s no reason the Braves should continue playing the 32-year-old Garcia, who is not part of the long-range plan, ahead of the 23-year-old Ruiz, who is showing glimpses that he might be part of that plan or is at least the plan for the near future.Let Garcia start against left-handers, whom the Braves are seeing infrequently this season, and serve as a bench player and pinch-hitter. It’s time to play Ruiz, who is a better hitter and brings more energy and enthusiasm to the team. “Big River” Ruiz has more than a terrific nickname – which he got in high school, when he was a standout quarterback and baseball player in Los Angeles – he has the ability to make fans care about his at-bats. Garcia does not.Garcia has been the starting third baseman in 33 of 45 Braves games this season and is the primary reason for the following: Braves third basemen are in the bottom half of MLB in every major offensive statistical category including tied for 25th in OPS (.634), 25th in slugging percentage (.341), tied for 18th in homers (5), tied for 19th in RBIs (21), 29th in doubles (4) and tied for 26th in walks (12)."