BRAVES NEWS
Teheran makes spring training debut vs. Astros
Julio Teheran made his first start of spring training yesterday as he looks to get prepared for both the upcoming season ahead and the imminent World Baseball Classic. As far as curtain-raisers go, it went about as well as it could’ve for Teheran — he picked up a strikeout and only surrendered one hit and one walk over two shutout innings.
Blair switches things up in his first spring appearance
Aaron Blair’s going to have plenty of eyeballs on him this season. He had a rocky 2016 campaign and will be in a fight for the final rotation spot — though it seems likely that he’ll be destined for Gwinnett in April. With that being said, Blair is doing his level best to shake things up a bit, and he’s even added a slider to his repertoire.
“He limited damage,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He kept pitching. Command wasn’t great. I saw a couple change-ups that were pretty good but the fastball command wasn’t really good.” Blair got out of the jams with strikeout pitches that included a slider that he’s added to his repertoire. He said he delivered four consecutive sliders to Correa, including the strikeout pitch with a full count.
Blair didn’t throw any sliders during 15 games with the Braves in 2016, according to Pitch f/x tracking data.
“Considering I don’t have a feel really for the fastball (now) being able to turn to the slider when I needed it rather than just fastball-changeup, it was good to have that in my back pocket,” he said.
Albies could make spring debut soon
Meanwhile, the Braves got some pretty good news when it comes to Ozzie Albies. According to Mark Bowman, Albies has been making plenty of progress since reporting to spring training and the hot prospect at second base could potentially make his return to the field at some time next week. He’ll be starting the season in Triple-A, but it’ll still be exciting to see Ozzie get some spring reps in this year once he’s fully healthy and ready to go.
Braves make another solid pickup with Walker
In case you may have missed it over the weekend, the Braves made another signing as they brought Christian Walker into the fold with an invite to big league camp. The 1B/OF definitely won’t be battling for a starting job, but he could have every opportunity of potentially leaving camp with a spot on the bench. Wayne Cavadi of Minor League Ball was impressed with Atlanta’s acquisition.
His career line is nice. Over five minor league seasons, he has slashed .276/.342/.449. He has belted 75 home runs (averaging 21 a year over the past three seasons) while adding 119 doubles. His career walk rate isn't fantastic (8.3 percent). It is good enough, however, when paired with his 21.3 career strike out rate.
Walker isn't here to supplant Freddie Freeman at first base. Nor is he going to steal every day at bats in the outfield. What Walker can be is a reliable utility bat. He plays a solid first base and his transition to the outfield last season was passable at the least.
Walker has one option left. This is a huge bonus for him. At the very least, the Braves got solid organizational depth. Despite a poor track record in his 27 MLB at bats, Walker is big league ready in a pinch.
Fox Sports previews the Braves
There has been plenty of Braves-centric content over at Fox Sports South, but now big Fox is taking their turn at trying to give you an idea of what to expect from the Braves this season. It’s a decent cliff notes version of an offseason recap, so if you’ve been living under a rock all winter then this is the article for you.
BEST-CASE SCENARIO
Atlanta finishes at or above .500 and Freddie Freeman, Ender Inciarte and Julio Teheran and make the All-Star Game. And Bartolo Colon slugs his second career home run.
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
Last place in the NL East, no Colon homer.
MLB NEWS
Josh Hamilton is going to have surgery on his knee
The Rangers have welcomed Josh Hamilton back into their fold on a minor-league deal, but it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll be able to complete his longshot goal of making it back to the bigs after missing all of 2016. He’ll be getting knee surgery soon, and this could very well be the end of the line for Hamilton.
Insurance company rules Gray out of WBC
USA Baseball will have to do without Sonny Gray in the WBC. It’s not a decision made by Team USA or Major League Baseball. Instead, the decision came down to an insurance company. They refused to grant him a waiver to throw, so now Sonny Gray will have to watch the WBC from A’s camp in Arizona instead of participating in it. John Hickey of The Mercury News had more details on the issue:
Major League Baseball and the WBC tried to get an insurance waiver to allow Gray to participate, and A’s GM David Forst said they “pushed hard.” However, players on the disabled list for more than 60 days in the previous season and players on the DL at the end of August have that count against them, as did the fact that Gray pitched just one inning in the final weeks of the season. The insurance company rules like to see a pitcher get at least 10 innings at the end.
“It’s not up to us or MLB, it’s up to the insurance company,” Forst said. “MLB pushed the issue and asked the insurance carrier to let him pitch, and they didn’t do it.”
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