Tag: featured

Early Injury Woes:

Throughout a long season, injuries are inevitable. However, the Atlanta Braves seem to have already been bitten by the injury bug. To look at it from a positive standpoint, granted you never want an injury, at least these injuries have taken place at the beginning of the season which allows the players ample time to heal before the postseason.

Sean Murphy: left oblique strain; expected return early May.

Murphy’s injury at the start was definitely a big blow… after all, it was Opening Day. He hadn’t even played a full game. Murphy has proven to be a very useful tool behind the plate and at the plate for the Braves, and while Chadwick Tromp has proven he has what it takes to be a catcher in the Major Leagues, Atlanta will be happy when their All-Star catcher is back and healthy.

Spencer Strider: right ulnar collateral ligament strain; will miss the 2024 season.

Talk about an unexpected injury. No one expected the Braves’ ace to be out for the 2024 season. There were such high hopes for Strider in the coming season, and now there is a large gap to be filled in his place. On April 5th, the Atlanta home opener, Strider had a rough first inning which made the Braves’ staff wonder if he was okay. After an MRI it was announced that Strider had a strain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm. It was kept very quiet if he was going to have surgery or not, but on April 13th it was announced that Strider underwent internal brace surgery to repair the strain.

This surgery has been said to have a shorter recovery time than Tommy John Surgery. However, it still requires 12 months at the least to fully recover. There are high hopes that Spencer Strider will be able to pitch at the start of the 2025 season, but nothing is set in stone.

Ozzie Albies: fractured right big toe; expected return early May.

If there was one person on the Braves roster who has the most freak accidents- it would be this guy. During the second inning of Monday’s game (April 15th) against the Houston Astros, Houston’s starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti’s curveball curved too much and hit Albies on the top of the foot. He was in immediate pain but stayed in for the rest of the game. After the game, they did an MRI and x-rays on Ozzie’s foot and it showed a fracture in the bone of his big toe. He played 7 innings with a fractured toe! Thankfully, Ozzie won’t need surgery. They placed him on the 10-day IL, and isn’t expected to miss more than three weeks.

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Despite injuries to key components of the Altanta Braves team, they are still playing quality games. They are still getting wins, and they are still a strong team. In a way, injuries can help strengthen a team because the players work together to fill in the losses.

GO BRAVES!!

Opening Weekend Success:

Photo: Courtesy @braves

The Atlanta Braves 2024 season is officially underway, and the Braves started off on a positive note by winning 2 out of 3 games against their rivals the Philadelphia Phillies.

With a 9-3 win on Friday and a 12-4 win on Saturday, Atlanta’s offense proved that they did not lose any of their power at the plate. Ozzie Albies hit the Braves’ first home run of the season in the first inning of Saturday’s game, and other home runs soon followed. The Braves were also able to escape run deficits and secure the win. They were almost able to do this during Sunday’s game, however they came up one run short and lost 4-5.

Pitching wise, Atlanta’s starters did pretty well. Spencer Strider went 5 innings in Game One, only allowing three hits and two runs. He also had 8 strikeouts. He did not get the win, however, but the Braves bullpen showed off their arms to keep the Phillies’ bats from doing any damage. In game two, Max Fried had some struggles. He threw 43 pitches over 0.2 innings and surrendered 3 runs. There was a very questionable call from the umpire on a 2-2 count with two outs and the bases loaded that did not go the Braves’ way. If the umpire had made the correct call, Fried wouldn’t have surrendered a single run and could’ve possibly gone a couple more innings. There wasn’t anything wrong with the velocity of Fried’s pitches, his command just wasn’t there. He was hanging pitches and couldn’t command the strike zone. Hopefully, in his next start, he will come out stronger.

Chris Sale made his Braves debut on Sunday’s game. He threw 5.1 innings, had 7 strikeouts, and only allowed 2 runs. It was a bummer that the Braves bullpen could not maintain the lead to secure the win, but it was a very positive start for Sale. And it was exciting to see him pitch a good game.

Unfortunately, on Opening Day, Sean Murphy strained his left oblique with a swing late in the game. He is expected to miss a couple weeks at least. Having Murphy go down after just one game of the season is definitely not something a manager wants, but the positive outlook from it is that he will be healthy late in the season when the playoffs are right around the corner. Thankfully we have dependable d’Arnaud who is capable of catching multiple games in a row.

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As always, the Atlanta Braves are exciting to watch, and I am excited to see what the 2024 season has in store for them!

GO BRAVES!!

What’s Next For the Braves Coming Into the Offseason?

After a disappointing Postseason run by the Atlanta Braves, in which they were eliminated in the NLDS, it is time to start looking towards the 2024 season. The question coming into this offseason is what should the be the Braves front office staff’s main focus? And the answer to that would be this: PITCHING!

Atlanta’s offense flourished all season long with several players setting franchise and MLB records at the plate. However, the Braves pitching staff had some serious struggles throughout the season, and we saw that firsthand in the NLDS. A team can have a great offense and win ballgames, but what about the games where their offense is slacking? Those are the game where teams need to be able to rely on their starting rotation and on the bullpen. If they cannot maintain a one-run lead, or even a one-run deficit, then they aren’t doing their job.

There are some games where the Braves starting rotation had good starts and the bullpen was able to hold onto a lead. But what we saw most nights for the Braves was a shaky bullpen, and on a really bad night, we saw a shaky bullpen and an unstable starting rotation. It is safe to say that without good pitching – no matter how fantastic an offense is – they will more likely than not find themselves in situations they did NOT want to be in.

The Braves did have a lot of pitchers start the 2023 season on the injured list and had players go off and on the IL all year. Jackson Stephens, Nick Anderson, Tyler Matzek, and Huascar Ynoa didn’t make a single start this season, and Collin McHugh, Kolby Allard, Dylan Lee, and Michael Soroka were unable to stay off the injured list for the majority of the season. Jesse Chavez spent a couple of months on the injured list, and even Charlie Morton spent some time on the injured list toward the end of the season. It was painfully obvious the Braves pitching staff was not at 100% anytime during the whole season.

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Recently, the Atlanta Braves front staff signed RHP Pierce Johnson to a two-year $14.25 million contract. They acquired him at the 2023 trade deadline from the Colorado Rockies. Johnson did not perform well with the Rockies, but he had drastically different numbers with the Braves producing a 0.73 ERA over three months (excluding the Postseason). Atlanta also signed Joe Jiménez to a three-year $26 million contract. Jiménez had an up and down season with the Braves. Hopefully he will have better numbers in the 2024 season with Atlanta.

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Out of all the Braves pitchers, there is only one who is a free agent this offseason, and that is Jesse Chavez. Chavez missed a couple of months during the middle of the season due to a fractured shin, but he is known as “Mr Consistent” coming out of the bullpen. Jesse is definitely a fan favorite and a club favorite. I will be very surprised if the Atlanta Braves don’t resign him for the 2024 season.

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It will be interesting to see how the Atlanta Braves front office staff goes about strengthening the Braves’ pitching staff…but there is no denying that it IS an issue and it NEEDS to be addressed. And since Atlanta has their whole infield and most of the outfield locked up for a good while, the Braves front staff can spend more money to secure some reliable pitching.

I’m looking forward to the 2024 season already! GO BRAVES!!

The Braves Are National League East Champs 6 Years in a Row!!!!

What an exciting day to be an Atlanta Braves fan! With a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves clinched the NL East for the 6th consecutive year.

The 2023 season has been a great season for Atlanta. They lead all of MLB in wins with 96, they lead all of MLB in home runs, not to mention Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson are having record-breaking seasons.

This team is relentless…you see this every time they hit the field. The Braves players give every single game everything that they have and continue to prove they are the best of the best.

Yes, Atlanta has clinched the East and they have guaranteed themselves a spot in the NLDS, but the hardest part is still to come. There are 16 games left in the regular season, and then it’s time for some Postseason baseball. It is going to be an exciting Postseason run for the Braves, and I truly believe they have what it takes to win the World Series again this year.

I already bought my t-shirt!

GO BRAVES!!!

An Update on Where the Braves are at Going Into the Month of August:

There are 56 games left in the season, and despite being 13-10 in July, the Atlanta Braves are still leading the MLB in wins with 69, and are atop the National League East by 11.5 games. With that in mind, Atlanta is coming into August with their heads held high!

Like always, the Braves are continuing to prove just how exhilarating of a team they are. They just wrapped up their series against the Los Angelas Angels (July 31st-August 2nd) in which they won two of the three games.

Atlanta’s offense has finally started to come back again, and it is exciting to watch. The Braves have already hit a whopping 206 home runs this season, and the next closest team to the Braves in home runs is the Los Angelas Dodgers with 169- that’s a big difference! With the pace they are at right now, the Braves are on track to hit a LOT more home runs, and potentially break the single season record for home runs that was set by the Minnesota Twins in 2019. They hit a total of 307 home runs that season. The Braves only need 101 more!

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Injury wise for the Braves, there have been some updates. Max Fried has been assigned to return to the Braves rotation, and he will make his first start in almost three months in Chicago against the Cubs on Friday, August fourth. It will be good to see Fried on the mound once again, and hopefully he will pick up where he left off and continue to bring stability to the Atlanta rotation.

Kyle Wright should hopefully be returning before the month of August is over. He strained his shoulder back in May, and although he has been cleared to throw again, Atlanta’s training staff has not scheduled any rehab starts. Obviously they want to be extremely careful with Wright since he is so young and has such good potential, but hopefully he will begin a rehab assignment within the next couple of weeks.

The Braves have had a lot of pitcher-related injuries this season, and a lot of them are still a month or two away from returning. But fingers crossed that they will all be healthy and ready to go when it gets time for the postseason.

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The Atlanta Braves have some VERY talented players. They prove day in and day out just how good they are and why they deserve to be at the Major League level.

Ronald Acuña Jr. has 51 stolen bases already this season which is quite impressive. After tearing his ACL in 2021, we saw Acuña be much more cautious in the 2022 season. But now, you can tell that he is completely healthy again and having fun on those bases! It will be thrilling to watch and see how many he wracks up by the end of the season.

Matt Olson is currently leading the National League in home runs with 37. He is just two behind Shohei Ohtani (39) who leads all of MLB in home runs. Along with leading the NL in home runs, Matt Olson leads MLB in RBI’s with 91. So it is safe to say he is very productive in the Braves lineup. Olson is a very strong left-handed hitter. Yes, he pulls the ball sometimes, but we also see him hit the ball to straightaway center and to opposite field. He is such a good hitter and even though he has a tendency to strike out, I don’t feel that he gets all of the credit he deserves.

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I could sit here and talk ALL day about how good every single player in the Braves lineup is. One through nine, they all contribute each and every day and you can see how much playing for this Braves team means to them. They’re an exciting bunch to watch and I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the season has in store for them.

GO BRAVES!!

What I’m Most Excited For Coming Into the Second Half of the 2023 Season:

The Atlanta Braves had a fantastic first half of the season! They lead all of Major League Baseball with 60 wins and only 29 losses. They are in first place in the NL East by 8.5 games and have a very impressive lineup.

It has been a couple of days since the 2023 All-Star game, which the National League won 3-2. Tonight, July 14th, the Braves will kick off the second half of the 2023 season at home against the Chicago White Sox.

Coming out of the All-Star Break, here are some things I am looking forward to seeing with this Braves team:

~The Return of Max Fried

It has been awhile since Max Fried has pitched for the Braves since he strained his left forearm back in May. He made his first rehab start on July 9th – throwing 1 and 1/3 innings, allowing only one hit and two walks. This is definitely a big step in the right direction for Fried, and we hope to see his rehab starts continue and him back and the Major League level within the next month.

~The Return of Kyle Wright

Kyle Wright has been out since early May with a right shoulder strain. He has been cleared to throw again, but the Braves are going to play it safe with him since, not only is he such a great pitcher, but he is also very young. No one wants to do anything to jeopardize his playing career.

~The Atlanta Braves’ Offense

Let’s face it, the Braves have one of – if not the most– exciting lineups in all of baseball! Every single day they give everything they’ve got and continue to out perform their competition. Not to mention they hit a TON of home runs, which brings extra excitement to every game. This is something I’m excited to see continue throughout the remainder of the season.

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If I could only use one word to describe this Atlanta Braves team it would be this: RELENTLESS. To me it sums up our Atlanta team perfectly because no matter how many injuries they have, how many losses they get in a row, or how much doubt is thrown their way… they do not give up. If anything, the hardships and negativity they face gives them the determination they need to play harder and ultimately win it all. We’ve seen this first hand in the first half of the 2023 season.

I think it’s safe to say the Postseason isn’t an “IF” for the Braves, but a “WHEN.” It will be exciting to watch them play the rest of the season and get to the Postseason. In the end I believe they have a chance to bring another World Series trophy home!

GO BRAVES!!

Takeaways From the Braves vs Tigers Series:

On their brief roadtrip, the Braves took two out of three games against the Detroit Tigers, winning the series. Their two wins were in a doubleheader on Wednesday June 14th, because their second game of the previous series was postponed due to rain.

Multiple things happened in this series for the Braves; some good, and some not so good.

THE POSITIVES:

  • Michel Harris II is finally starting to come to life offensively.

It is no secret that Michel Harris II has struggled big time to start the 2023 season. It was like his rookie magic had completely gone away. He was still showing off defensively – making superb plays in the outfield – but offensively was a serious struggle.

However, over the three games against the Tigers he had seven hits, two home runs, five RBI’s, two stolen bases, and he did not strike out a single time. Those are some impressive numbers considering the slow start that he got off to in the beginning of the season! Hopefully he will continue to hit as well as he has been hitting lately and continue to shine in the remainder of the season.

  • The Braves are continuing to shine offensively

Over the three game against the Tigers, the Atlanta Braves’ hitters scored a total of 21 runs and hit 6 home runs. Those are some pretty impressive numbers – especially considering they had to play a doubleheader and did not have a lot of time to rest between games.

Not only were they hitting lots of bombs, but they were hitting lots of grounders for hits and line drives for hits, and they were taking walks when they needed to.

The Atlanta Braves might not be a bunting team, but they know how to move runners over in other ways!

THE NEGATIVES:

  • Jesse Chavez goes on the 15 day IL

In game three of the series, Jesse Chavez came into the sixth inning to pitch. After throwing four pitches, he was hit in the shin by a 100mph comebacker. He immediately went down onto the ground and had to be helped off the field. The Braves medical staff announced this morning that he has a left shin contusion. While we are very thankful that it isn’t anything worse, Chavez will definitely be missed. He has had a good season this year and is always a consistent veteran pitcher.

  • Braves starting rotation isn’t as sharp as usual

Pitching is SO important for any professional ball club, and historically, the Atlanta Braves have been known to have really good pitching. The Braves started off with having good pitching, and while Bryce Elder is still pitching very well, it seems like the remainder of the starting pitchers (that aren’t hurt) aren’t as sharp as we’re used to seeing. Especially Spencer Strider.

Spencer has a 7-2 recored over 14 games, but he has a 4.12 ERA, which is high for him. Strider had a fantastic rookie season in 2022, so he had high expectations coming into this season. And it’s not that he has pitched badly – he just hasn’t been as sharp as he was last year. That is most likely because he isn’t facing batters for the first time; he’s facing people who have seen him before and have a taste of what is coming.

I am positive that Spencer Strider will figure things out though and be the great pitcher we know he can be.

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I know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Braves are an exciting team to watch this year. I believe that if they can stay healthy and keep playing like they are, they have a chance to win it all this year!

GO BRAVES!!

An Overview of The Braves Coming Into the Month of June:

It’s safe to say that the Atlanta Braves got off to a hot start for the 2023 season. They have not moved out of first place all season long. The starting rotation, granted it has been injury-plagued, has been pretty consistent and so has the Braves offense and defense.

Towards the end of May, things started to slow down for the Braves. They lost their series with the Dodgers (May 22nd-24th), they split their series with the Phillies (May 25th-28th), and then lost their series against the Athletics (May 29th-31st). I think those games against the Athletics were almost a wakeup call for the Braves, because after they lost the first two of the series, they fought back in game three and it gave them some serious motivation going to Arizona.

The Braves took the series against the Diamondbacks (June 2nd-4th) and have been on a hot streak since!

The Braves just wrapped up a sweep of the Mets at home, and those games were a perfect example of how relentless this Atlanta Braves team is. All three games were come-from-behind wins.

In these three games against the Mets, Atlanta’s starting rotation wasn’t as sharp as usual, but the bullpen was lights out. A.J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias were especially sharp. They came into the games when it mattered the most and did not disappoint.

Offensively, the Braves were locked in. They hit 8 home runs over those three games – five of them came in game three of the series. We know that the Atlanta Braves team can rely on the home run game a lot. Yet in this series they showed that yes, they were capable of hitting home runs, but that they’re also capable of getting base hits when needed and taking walks in high-stress situations. And, in game three of the series, Ozzie Albies smoked a 3-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to send the Braves out in style!!

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It is safe to say that this Atlanta Braves team is getting better and better and they are proving that despite their injuries, they are the team to beat in the National League.

Speaking of Injuries, here is the latest on Max Fried (left forearm strain) and Kyle Wright (right shoulder strain):

Fried was moved to the 60-day IL, but this really doesn’t affect him and the Braves too much. He isn’t expected to return until the later half of July, but he has been ramping up some of his baseball actives like playing catch and doing some of the team workouts. Obviously the Braves are going to take the precautious route with Fried. Because he is their ace, they will need him healthy and ready to go when September come; not to mention they don’t want him to need Tommy John Surgery. But it will be nice to see him back on the pitcher’s mound.

Kyle Wright has had a rough season. He missed Spring Training this year with the same shoulder strain. Then after making just five Starts for the Braves, only one of those being longer than 5 innings, he was placed on the 15-day IL. The Braves later moved him to the 60-day IL because an injury like this is a very serious one – especially with it being his pitching shoulder.

It’s heartbreaking to see these two pitchers on the injured list for the Braves because they both did so well last season, but we have to remind ourselves that these things happen to the best teams. The Atlanta Braves are lucky to have had these injuries happen in early April/May instead of late August/September.

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GO BRAVES!!

An Update on the Braves Pitching Situation:

The Atlanta Braves have been bit by the injury bug a lot so far this season, and it has hit their starting rotation the most.

With big injuries to Max Fried (left forearm strain) and Kyle Wright (right shoulder strain), a lot of the weight from the starting rotation has moved to the bullpen. Atlanta’s bullpen has done really well this year. However, when the big injuries to the starting rotation took place, it was like it changed something in the bullpen… and not for the better.

Obviously with the two big injuries a lot of pressure was placed on the bullpen, but the Braves bullpen normally doesn’t crack under pressure. But we saw in the last two series Atlanta played, against the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, that the bullpen could not hold a lead. In three out of four of those games, the bullpen blew a 2-run lead late in the games, which didn’t give enough time for the Braves offense to come back.

A.J. Minter, who in the past has done really well for the Braves, has not been off to a good start in the bullpen. In fact, I’d say he’s struggled the most out of all the Braves bullpen pitchers this season. He is 2-5 on the season and has an ERA of 8.05 over 20 games. He’s only given up 6 walks over those 20 games, but it seems like almost everyone he faces gets a hit off of him. Minter started the season as the Braves closer while Raisel Iglesias was on the IL, and now that Iglesias is back Minter has resumed his role of pitching in the 7th or 8th inning.

Hopefully now that Iglesias is back as closer, it will take some of the added pressure off of A.J. Minter and he will return to being the great pitcher we saw in 2022.

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The Atlanta Braves are currently running off of a three-man starting pitching rotation with Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, and Bryce Elder. Ideally you want a five-man starting rotation, but for the Braves that is easier said than done. Because of the two big injuries to the starting rotation, the Braves have been doing a lot of bullpen games. Jared Shuster is set to pitch tonight (Tuesday, May 16th), and the Braves coaching staff called up Dylan Dodd for a game and then sent him back down to Triple-A Gwinnett. If Shuster does well, and Dodd continues to pitch like he has been, the Braves could easily place them in the rotation to fill in those two missing slots while Fried and Wright are on the IL.

Another thing to keep an eye on regarding the Atlanta Braves starting rotation is Michael Soroka. Soroka started the 2023 season in Gwinnett for the Braves – and with good reason. After coming off tearing his ACL twice in a span of almost two years, and straining his hamstring, doubts of whether Soroka would ever pitch again began to fill all of Braves Country’s minds. But Soroka did not give up. He hasn’t pitched a Major League game since August of 2020, but he is not letting that stop him. He has been working hard in Triple-A, and I’m sure he’s itching to pitch in a MLB game again.

The Braves training staff is playing his rehab assignment very carefully. I’m sure they want him to not only be comfortable on the mound, but for his body to be in good condition so that when he finally gets to pitch again he shouldn’t have any physical problems.

Soroka’s ERA in Gwinnett is 5.47 over 24 innings. He has had some scoreless starts, but he has also had some blowout games. With that being said, I also think the Braves are going to allow him to sort out his starts and become more consistent before they bring him back up to the Majors to resume his career.

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Every Major League team will go through injury-plagued stretches during some seasons. Although the Atlanta Braves have been through a lot lately, I’m glad these inconveniences are happening during the beginning of the season rather than in late August/September when postseason baseball is right around the corner.

I strongly believe the Braves are going to be the team to beat this year, and I’m excited to see where this exciting season will take them!

GO BRAVES!!

Highlights from the Braves First Home-stand of the Season:

Fireworks from opening weekend at Truist Park

Well, after a great road trip for the Braves to start the season, things cooled off a little bit a home. They lost the series 1-4 against the Padres and then came back to sweep the Reds. It was nice to have the Braves playing at home, and all the games were sold out.

There were definitely some exciting moments from the Atlanta Braves Home-stand. Some of those exciting moments were crucial in the Braves wins. In fact, in every single game against the Cincinnati Reds the Braves won by one run.

  • Orlando Arcia’s Walk-off win:

A great way to keep the momentum going from the Braves great road trip was to come home and have a very exciting walk-off win against the San Diego Padres. In the bottom of the ninth inning Arcia had a 2-out single that scored Eddie Rosario from second base giving the Braves a walk-off victory. Arcia definitely proved himself in the two and a half weeks of the 2023 season.* He has been a key part of the Braves great start.

  • Sean Murphy’s Walk-off win:

After losing the remaining three games against the Padres, Sean Murphy got the series against the Cincinnati Reds off right when he hit a walk-off two run home run- the first of his career- in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Murphy hadn’t shown much pop with his bat since joining the Braves, but his walk-off homer proved that he can be just as handy with the bat as he is behind the plate.

  • Ozzie Albies’ 100th Career Home Run:

After going on a major cold spell at home, Ozzie Albies finally broke out of his hitless streak when he hit his 100th home run of his career. And it wasn’t a cheap one – he smoked that baseball into the Chop House. It was a great home run that ended up being crucial to the Braves win.

Hopefully now that his 100th home run is out of the way, Albies will start producing more offensively like we know he is capable of doing.

  • Braves Sweep the Cincinnati Reds:

This series was a great bounce back from the series against the Padres. All the games had a lot of action offensively, good defense, and good pitching. Overall it was a well-rounded series.

Pitching wise, it was nice to see Kyle Wright make his season debut for the Atlanta Braves. He was put on the injured list in Spring Training with shoulder inflammation, and the Braves took extra precaution with him.

Wright did decent considering it was his first start of the season. He went 3.0 innings, allowed 4 hits, 4 runs, and allowed 4 walks and had 3 strikeouts. He wasn’t as sharp as we were used to seeing him, but I am confident that with time he will be back to being as sharp as he was last season.

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*For those of you who don’t know, Orlando Arcia was taken out of April 12th’s game as a precaution after he was hit by a pitch on his left wrist. After further examination, it was discovered that he has a microfracture and he was put on the 10-day injured list. It is not clear how much time he will have to miss, but one positive thing about this injury is that it was during the beginning of the season and not in late September.

Because Arcia is now on the IL, Vaughn Grissom will take over the role as shortstop while Arcia recovers. Considering all the playing time he has gotten in Triple-A, Grissom will be ready to go, and it will be nice to see him get some playing time.

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The Braves are showing they are capable of another great season, and I’m excited to watch them play for the remainder of the year!

GO BRAVES!!