Kyle Wright will start his bid for a rotation spot when the Braves play the Rays in the opening season of both teams in the Grapefruit League on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Sports Park.
Wright will start and throw two innings for the Braves, who will also have Sean Newcomb, Grant Dayton, Carl Edwards Jr., Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel, all available to make a relief appearance.
According to the spring training protocols of 2021, the spring games until March 13 will be scheduled as games with seven rounds, but, with the mutual agreement of both managers, they can be shortened to five rounds or extended to nine rounds. Games that appear after March 14 will be scheduled as nine-round games, but can be shortened to seven-round games. Braves manager Brian Snitker said he expects all of his team’s games to be scheduled for seven innings in two weeks.
With a road game also scheduled Monday against the Red Sox, Snitker said he expects to play only half of his regulars projected at the opening of the Grapefruit League.
“I think we’ll spread it,” Snitker said. “We have a lot of guys we want to see.”
The Braves’ rotation plans will depend on what is determined about Mike Soroka in the next few weeks. While the team did not rule out the possibility that Soroka will be ready at the beginning of the regular season, it is expected that he will be given extra time to recover from the torn Achilles tendon.
If Soroka really starts the season on the injury list, Wright and Bryse Wilson are the main candidates for the vacant rotation spot.
Wright has been on Atlanta’s opening roster for each of the past two seasons. But the 25-year-old right-hander has an ERA of 6.59, totaling just 12 career starts so far. He showed some promise when he finished last year’s regular season with three strong starts and then threw six scoreless innings against the Mariners in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
Freeman’s arrival
Freddie Freeman spent this week caring for his wife, Chelsea, who gave birth to the couple’s third son last weekend. The NL-based MVP is expected to arrive in Florida on Friday night and complete his admission tests on Saturday. This makes him start working with his Braves colleagues on Monday.
Even if Freeman missed the entire first week of the Grapefruit League season, he would still have three weeks to prepare for the opening day.
“It’s not a big deal at all,” Snitker said. “As you remember, it usually warms up in the first 10 days [the Grapefruit League season] and then gets bored for 10 days and then comes back. I don’t worry about that at all. ”
Other spring protocols
For spring training games until March 13, defensive managers will have the option to end a half before the third outing, as long as at least 20 pitches have been totaled in the half and a plate appearance does not. is ongoing. This will put an end to the usual practice of appealing to unprepared pitchers of the Minor League to make a sudden entry after a pitcher exceeds the number of pitches targeted in a half.
The minimum rule of three beats will be in effect for each game played on or after March 14th.
Managers will also have the option to rejoin the pitchers throughout spring training. This will give managers the option to use a reliever in a given situation to end a half and then bring their starter back to start the next half.