Atlanta Braves news and notes from Saturday
I want to take a minute to appreciate AJ Smith-Shawver, as I feel like he has gone a bit underappreciated due to when his prospect hype peaked and how young he is both as a person and a pitcher. It’s important to remember that he was drafted in 2021 as a pretty inexperienced pitcher, playing football (quite well) in high school. He pitched less than 150 pro innings before reaching the majors in 2023 at the age of 20 and has still pitched fewer than 300 pro innings to date. He is still growing as a pitcher, but he has been pretty impressive this season. He has a 3.58 xFIP through four starts and although his command is clearly still a work in progress, he’s gotten some decent results for a back of the rotation starter. While that’s fine for now, he has showcased a really unique splitter so far this season, along with a solid fastball and curveball. That splitter especially is a pitch that is easy to see being used by a high-end starter and the fastball has some impressive life to it. The best is likely yet to come for AJ and don’t lose sight of how young and inexperienced he still is as he looks like a perfectly viable pro starter.
Braves News
AJ Smith-Shawver played catch Saturday and is expected to make his scheduled start on Monday, after being hit with a line drive in his last start.
MLB News
The Angels are calling up former Brave Touki Toussaint, who is still floating around the majors after once being a top prospect in Atlanta.
Corbin Burnes will miss at least one start for Arizona with shoulder soreness, but the club is hoping he can keep it to only one game missed.
The Rangers activated star shortstop Corey Seager, after a short IL stint with a hamstring issue.
The Dodgers called up Hyeseong Kim from AAA after signing a 3 year deal with the club in the offseason, coming over from the KBO.
Triston Casas tore his patellar tendon and is expected to miss the rest of the season for surgery and rehab.