It’s Braves vs. A’s, Game 2 and boy do we need it. Last night was great until it wasn’t. And by great, I don’t mean the offense. Michael Soroka looked pretty good then gave up 3 runs on a dinger. Overall, one would have to be ok with the outing and look for him to improve in his next start. In case you want to relive it, here’s the recap.
Tonight’s pitching matchup features ERA league leader Bryce Elder vs. JP Sears, a lefty with a 4.70 ERA in 53.2 IP.
Question of the Day
No peaking. ladies and gents! There are a lot of former Braves that have spent time on the A’s MLB team this year, but of the group, which player has the highest fWAR for the 2023 season.
Transaction A Day AA
This one really caught me off guard. Holy Sh*t!
A.J. Smith-Shawver aka A.S.S., has been promoted to the Majors before he can legally drink alcohol. He was a Rome Brave on April 16th and has pitched a grand total of 110 innings in his MILB career, but Anthopoulos and his team have never been shy about promoting talent and Smith-Shawver is full of it. The question remains as to which role Smith-Shawver will take on. Considering he’s so young and hasn’t thrown a ton of innings, my guess is he’ll start off in the bullpen, like Spencer Strider did, and then transition to a starting role in 2024, or later in 2023.
Braves Lineup
I’m digging this lineup against a LHP. Get it, boys.
Promoting Smith-Shawver so quickly is certainly a bold move. He was fantastic during his short stints in Rome, Mississippi, and Gwinnett. I do hope they ease him into things by pitching him out of the bullpen for a while.
Nice to see Pillar in the lineup. Rosario, in spite of some nice catches and HRs here and there, has amassed -0.3 fWAR on the season, and is worth -1.5 fWAR since the start of 2022. I’m beginning to tire of him.
As for the question of the day, my guess is…Shea Langeliers?
Nope!
Could be Jace but I will also say Shea
Nope.
We are going to lose to these clowns again. Just a ridiculously flat offensive performance for a game and a half. The last two games are very Mets like against a bad team,
The Smith-Shawver callup is kind of breathtaking. I hope he handles it. Snit has obviously demonstrated he’s willing to give 20-year-olds a shot, but they aren’t all ready. (I’m sure Vaughn will be back, but they ain’t all Michael Harris – not even Mike himself.)
Pillar has been a pretty nice pickup. Who would have thought he’s now slugging. 512, over 100 pts above his career slugging
I’m not sure the answer to the question, but I’ll venture a guess that the combined fWAR of former A’s on the Braves is a good deal higher than that of former Braves on the A’s.
You would be correct! 😂
It has to be Jace Peterson. I don’t know any other A’s.
Looking forward to the debut of AJSS (gonna need a nickname for this one, stat…).
It’s A.S.S. It’s always been ASS.
A base hit and a walk and we still send the minimum to the plate. Gonna be one of “those” nights.
Cedric de Grandpre is the next Braves farm pitcher to put on your radar
Still feels like MHII’s 2023 hitting woes stem from the fact that he’s lost the left side.
Austin Riley really has turned into a lamp post over at 3B.
Hey, that’s my third baseman you’re talking about!
Baseball is a strange game. The team with one of the worst starts in several decades meets one of the better hitting teams in baseball coming off a thrashing of the Phillies. The good team goes ice cold, scoring 3 runs in 17 innings so far.
Been brutal, td…thankfully Elder shoved again tonight!
Shouldn’t come down to this tire-fire bullpen having to bail out an offense putting up one run, but here we are.
And again even the “good” bullpen arms stink. The A’s have outplayed an uninspired group so far. What a waste of time two nights in a row.
Nice fielding, Austin.
This team apparently has a lot of DH types this year as our defense has been abysmal
Yep, pretty much a lamp post.
As previously reported… as currently constituted, this team will make an early (read first round) playoff exit.
Chief, who’s going to knock us out of the first round? Give some examples.
Recapped. Ugh.