House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves pitcher Gohara dealing with groin strain

By Alan Carpenter

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 13: Starting pitcher Luiz Gohara #64 of the Atlanta Braves walks in from the bullpen before the start of the Braves game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on September 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 13: Starting pitcher Luiz Gohara #64 of the Atlanta Braves walks in from the bullpen before the start of the Braves game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on September 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Braves pitching rotation battle already has an early casualty

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of anxiety among the Atlanta Braves‘ coaching staff, but Luiz Gohara is going to be playing catch-up as he recovers from a groin issue during this second week of Spring action.

While Gohara was initially installed as the leader for the 4th rotation slot, Sean Newcomb may have a chance to leap-frog him as he gets his first Spring outing this afternoon.

There’s no word yet on the starters for next week – Gohara would have been expected in one of those slots.  Max Fried could be moved into one of them, and then we’ll simply have to wait until the team believes Gohara is ready to go.

In the Meantime…

…all eyes will be on Sean Newcomb today.  Much has already been said about Newcomb and ‘strike 1’ – his need to establish control over each at bat.  Even Baseball America has picked up on this point.

He will have his work cut out for him against a lot of Astros’ regulars today – a fairly loaded lineup on a loaded team of World Series champions.  But while Spring games are generally meaningless, pitching performances tend to be magnified since each starter gets relatively few innings until the last week in Florida.

More from Tomahawk Take

But it’s a disappointing start to the Spring for Gohara, which not only means having to recover from this strain, but not being able to throw much – if any – in the interim.

So no bullpen sessions, no facing live hitters, no game action – nothing.

Happily for the Braves, there are plenty of options still available to them:  Newcomb and Fried to start with, then perhaps Kazmir, Wisler, Sims, Soroka… yeah – the line keeps moving.

There’s somebody else who’s going to get a shot today, too:

Next: Game 2 Lineups

But let’s hope that the 21-1/2 year old Brazilian lefty can get back on a mound soon.

Home/Braves News