Braves Make Series of Pitching Moves But Still Have One Spot to Fill

The Atlanta Braves have sent struggling starter Bryce Elder to Gwinnett, leaving questions about how to fill the open rotation spot

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder was sent to Triple-A Gwinnett this afternoon / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves need some pitching help. 

In the midst of a stretch of seventeen games in seventeen days, including a doubleheader on Monday, the Braves need some fresh arms at the major league level to make up for not having another off day until June.

Atlanta’s made a series of transactions today, sending some pitchers down to Triple-A Gwinnett and calling up one (for now). 

Between games today, Atlanta optioned Sunday night starter Bryce Elder to Gwinnett. The sinkerballer struggled in his 2nd consecutive Sunday Night Baseball start, allowing four runs in the first inning and finishing with seven runs (six earned) after leaving the 4th inning without recording an out. 

We speculated in the takeaways from Sunday night that the righty, who saw his ERA tick up to 6.46 after the blowup, might not make it to his next scheduled start this Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and that’s exactly what happened. Atlanta’s opted to replace him on the roster with Darius Vines, a depth option who has experience working both in long relief and in starting roles. 

Vines, who last pitched for Gwinnett last Wednesday, is expected to be available out of the bullpen and, if not used in relief, could be the starter for Thursday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs, which is currently set as “TBA”.

Daysbel Hernández, who was designated as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader and threw a scoreless ninth inning with one hit and one walk in Atlanta’s game one loss, was returned to Gwinnett following both games. 

But the most surprising news came as media was preparing to meet with the coaches after the game two victory: Atlanta had optioned reliever Ray Kerr back to Gwinnett. 

Kerr threw 3.1 innings after Elder was knocked out of Sunday’s game early and impressed, allowing two runs on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts. After throwing a season-high 64 pitches (46 for strikes), manager Brian Snitker mentioned after the game that Atlanta might try and stretch him out as a starter and the idea was floated by various media members that he could get the Friday night start vacated by Elder’s optioning to Gwinnett. 

With the news that Kerr was optioned after tonight’s game (and no corresponding move was made just yet), it’s obvious that the Braves feel they need another arm that can potentially throw as soon as Tuesday in the series opener versus the Cubs. It’s just not known yet who that person would be. Pierce Johnson was reinstated on Saturday from the injured list and the corresponding move was to place Jackson Stephens on waivers; the veteran elected free agency instead of an assignment to Gwinnett and is not currently in the organization. Tyler Matzek, although eligible to return from the injured list, is not believed to be an option for a return at this time. The only other relievers already on the 40-man roster in Gwinnett are newly-acquired Jimmy Herget and Huascar Ynoa, who is still attempting to return from Tommy John surgery and has been on the minor league injured list. 

The Braves have the ability to create a spot on the 40-man roster by moving Spencer Strider, who is out for all of 2024, from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day. Barring worse injury news to Matzek than we realize, Strider’s the last player Atlanta has a 15-to-60-day conversion available for, and so doing that now for a reliever means the team can’t claim a waived player or trade for a DFA’d player without either cutting someone from the roster or waiting for another injury. 

If the Braves were to use Strider to create a 40-man roster spot, then calling up veteran Ken Giles could be a possibility for Atlanta. The former closer is 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA for Gwinnett in thirteen appearances, striking out twenty and walking eight in fourteen innings.