Varsity, aka Max Fried, takes the mound tonight for the 1st of an odd 2 game series against the Boston Red Sox. Kutter Crawford will counter Fried, game time 6:10 CT/7:10 ET. And let’s get one thing straight from the last thread…Austin Riley is king of the ladies on this Braves team.

Braves Transactions

Yesterday, the Braves optioned Chadwick Tromp back to AAA. That was expected. Alex Anthopoulos options players on off days quite often and it’s quite smart as he doesn’t have to pay said player MLB money. Yes, it’s only for 1 day but over the course of the year, the bucks add up.

Many speculated that Luke Williams would get the call and that is why AA was waiting the extra day as Luke hadn’t been down the full 10 days. Unfortunately for Luke, AA had a different plan:

I’ve always enjoyed Brian Anderson as a player. He’s played both 3B and RF for most of his career, logging over 5000 innings in his 8 year career. He took a MILB deal with the Brewers this year and carried a 797 OPS at AAA Tacoma. He’ll likely be an emergency player and ride the pine 90% of the time, but I bet that MLB salary sure looks better than AAA.

When Tyler Matzek went to the IL, I discussed that his IL stint would likely be a long one. Matzek was transferred to the 60-day IL and has been at the FCL rehabbing. It would be nice to get a full strength Matzek for the stretch.

An Interesting Turn of Events in the Minors

Braves have made some MiLB signings lately adding 4 shortstops: Tim Borden II, Diego Gutierrez, Nixson Cueche, and Elios Campos. Yes, it’s true that nearly every athlete that starts out at the DOSL are labeled shortstops, but 4 within a 3 day period is odd.

Also, the Braves have been pushing some guys into starting roles lately that haven’t started in quite some time, including RHP former closer at AAA, Grant Holmes….and it’s working. In his latest start, he threw 5 innings, giving up 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, and 7 Ks. The one hit he gave up was a HR.

Hurston Waldrep lost his1st start at Gwinnett, but looked absolutely electric doing so, mowing down 11 hitters in 6 innings. I don’t think it’ll be long before he’s going to get his MLB debut.

Now on to Max Fried!