Braves Acquire Ryan Buchter

Following the signing of Steven Shell the Braves today swapped 35 year old Rodrigo Lopez for perennial minor league reliever Ryan Buchter 24. Lopez will become the Cubs swingman or long man while Butcher reports Lynchburg. This presumably was in the works when Shell was acquired and sent to Gwinnett.

Buchter was drafted by the Nationals out of high school in 2005 and struggled his first two years in the Nationals system. In 2008 he went a combined 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA for the Nationals’ rookie Gulf Coast League and low-Class A South Atlantic League teams. He was swapped to the Cubs for minor league pitcher Matt Avery. He didn’t allow an earned run in his first eight appearances for Peoria and struck out 35 in 281/3 innings earning himself a spot in East Division in the Midwest League All-Star game. He finished 2009 3-0 with 5 saves in 38 appearances, a 1.33 ERA and a 1.148 WHIP.

In 2010 he was promoted to AA and finished 7-2 in 60 innings with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.800 WHIP.  His got his first win of 2011 in his tenth and  last outing for Daytona on the 23rd when he came in to end a rally, pitched 11/3 innings and struck out 3.

Cubbies Crib has a short article from their point of view.

"“. . . the Cubs are not giving up a top prospect in the form of Buchter . . . the fact that it took him until 2010 to reach class double A is a good indicator that the Cubs are not giving a top–or even mid level–prospect.”"

Bleacher Nation (a Cubs blog) had this note.

"“Buchter, 24, is about the kind of pitcher you’d expect to give up in one of these deals. . .  He’s put up decent numbers as a reliever in the Cubs’ system, but has always been a touch old for his level (and, particularly as a kid drafted out of high school, that’s not a good thing). He does strike out a ton of batters, so I would imagine that’s what interested the Braves."

While it’s true Buchter hasn’t moved quickly through the minor leagues, remember that he was all of 19 when he started out and wasn’t even a top of the line pitcher in high school. In an interview in 2009 he said:

"“I was basically a nobody as a junior and a nobody as a senior,” Buchter said. “I was kind of a mistake. The (Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals) were at a game for somebody else, and I pitched better than he did and it took off from there.”"

As I said when discussing Steven Shell, stockpiling young,stikeout pitchers is never a bad thing. Good luck to him.