The Atlanta Braves designated Mauricio Cabrera for assignment
By John Le
Out of options, the Atlanta Braves designated the young flamethrower for assignment as part of signing Peter Moylan
On Monday, the Atlanta Braves announced the signing of veteran reliever Peter Moylan and thus had to make room on the roster. One roster member that struck out was 24-year-old Mauricio Cabrera, who was out of options and struggled during the 2017 season.
The #Braves agreed to terms with RHP Peter Moylan on a Major League contract for 2018. To make room on the 40-man, the Braves DFA’d RHP Mauricio Cabrera.
— Kelsey Wingert-Linch (@KelsWingert) February 19, 2018
Cabrera appeared for the major league team in 2016 and pitched to a 2.82 ERA, appearing in 41 games. However, many believed that it was an outlier season since Cabrera didn’t have an ERA lower than a 2.97 in the minors and that was in 2012 with Danville. To add to that, most of his season ERAs were between 5.59 and 6.49!
In 2017, Cabrera experienced elbow tightness during spring training and eventually landed on the DL. When Cabrera returned, he started at AAA Gwinnett. However, he performed poorly, putting up an ERA of 7.86 before getting demoted to AA and A+.
Mauricio Cabrera, 24, possesses a 100 mph fastball and had a productive rookie season in 2016. He did not pitch in the majors last year after battling arm problems in the spring. His command worsened and minor league numbers were not good - 6.49 ERA and 9.4 BB/9, 8.0 K/9. #Braves
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 19, 2018
With that being said, we can’t ignore that Cabrera has a rocket for an arm. His triple-digit fastballs were a spectacle. Some even suggesting he was the next Aroldis Chapman. In 2016, Cabrera threw fastballs that clocked in as high as 103 MPH and had an average velocity of 100.2 MPH which was the 2nd highest in the majors! That is some heat!
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Though with his raw power, come control issues. During his time in the majors, he gave up 19 walks. He allowed no home runs but did give up 31 total hits with 12 earned runs.
He would be a great project or experiment for a team looking to have a flame-throwing late innings option. I hope he passes through and the Braves can keep him. Cabrera has potential to be a bullpen threat with his fastball, if he could just control it.
Someone once said a player needs to control his arm in order to evolve from a thrower to a pitcher. That would probably be the only reason a team would claim him is for his canon of an arm. It’s also the only reason I think the Braves would outright him instead of releasing him if he passes through.
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Peter Moylan’s new contract guarantees him $575,000 and a bonus of $625,000 if he gets added to the 25-man roster.