Atlanta Braves Shuffling Cards to Cover All Bases: Castro Promoted

Mar 5, 2015; Lakeland, FL, USA; From left Atlanta Braves coach Terry Pendleton (9) , infielder Daniel Castro (77) and coach Eddie Perez (12) talk before the start of the spring training baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Our Jeff Schafer just reported a rumor that we’ve heard this afternoon that Mike Foltynewicz is being sent back to Gwinnett to refine his game a bit.  As we were discussing ths implications amongst ourselves, we received both additional information and confirmation from a second source:

This certainly will get many of you asking “What??”

Here’s the Explanation

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• Tonight’s lineup has been released:  Andrelton Simmons is not on it… and though he’s quoted as saying he’s okay, that was before attempting BP.
• Certainly, though, Simba is out for tonight, and the usual practice from the Bobby Cox Manual of Handling Injured Players is “wait until they are healed; then wait one more day.”
• That “extra” day would be Thursday… meaning that the Braves would be without backup plans for multiple positions for 2 games.  Enter Daniel Castro.  If needed, he can play SS with Pedro Ciriaco starting there and then moving elsewhere as the “Super Sub” if needed.
• Mike Foltynewicz, as we learned, has been optioned back to Gwinnett.  This may have been rushed a bit due to the need for a backup position player, but was coming soon due to numbers like these (hat tip to Braves Reddit for saving me the effort):

• If Simmons is indeed going to be ready by Friday, then that works out everything nicely:  Matt Wisler will be called upon to make his major league debut against the Mets, and Daniel Castro will be returned to Gwinnett.

Now Wisler hasn’t been without his own issues lately:  he got smacked around in his most recent start (June 12th) for 7 earned runs.  That was a repeat of an April 29 outing, but other than those two speed bumps, he has pitched pretty well (4.29 ERA overall).

Wisler’s normal rotation turn would have been today… and that didn’t happen, so we fully expect he will be promoted for Friday’s Atlanta game, though I will insert this caveat:

Of course he said that… but our guess is that the stars are all lined up for Wisler to start Friday.  He will need to be added to the 40-man roster by Friday, but there is plenty of space available at the moment.

Wisler, acquired in the Craig Kimbrel trade from San Diego, is 6’3″/195 and is still just 22 years old.  Obviously a pretty nice pickup by the Padres as a 7th round 2011 draft pick.  He’s originally from Bryan, Ohio.

Final Thought

For those hoping to see Jose Peraza promoted instead of Castro, there are two points of note:

• Peraza came up as a shortstop, but doesn’t quite have the arm strength you would want for that position, so he’s not quite suited for this task anyway.
• It’s really only 2 days that we’re talking about here – when Peraza is truly promoted, I’m sure the Braves don’t want to mess with him in this way.
• Along the same line, I would expect that Wisler is up to the majors for at least several starts – as Folty was – to give him a chance to see what he can really do.  So if/when this happens, it would not be as a stop-gap:  I expect he would get a full run until at least through July or so.

Next: Rumor - now confirmed - Foltynewicz optioned to AAA