Adam Duvall to Make Braves Spring Training Debut on Saturday
With less than a week remaining in the Grapefruit League schedule, the Atlanta Braves have gotten everybody into games and are ready for Opening Day.
Well, everybody except one man.
Free agent signing Adam Duvall, who rejoined the organization late last week on a one-year deal, hasn't yet gotten into a spring training game since reporting prior to the weekend. And his planned debut is being pushed back one more day.
With severe weather in the forecast for Friday that's more than likely going to result in the cancellation of Atlanta's road contest against the Minnesota Twins, Duvall is now scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut on Saturday when Atlanta hosts the Tampa Bay Rays.
But despite not yet playing in an official game, Duvall's been getting his work in, with the Braves beat on-site in North Port reporting that Duvall's been getting "four to six" at-bats a day in minor league games this week.
Duvall reportedly doesn't need to be ready for a full-time job on Opening Day, as the plan is to platoon him in left field with Jarred Kelenic and use him against lefty starters. Braves officials are targeting the third game of the season, a road matchup against the Phillies with lefty starter Ranger Suarez on the mound, as Duvall's first start.
The veteran came out of spring hot last season, going 15-33 with four homers in his first eight games with the Boston Red Sox before a fractured left wrist, suffered while diving for a fly ball, knocked him out of play until late June.
Strider feeling impact of weather, as well
Spencer Strider, Atlanta's Opening Day starter, will go into that Thursday start without the benefit of an extra day of rest, as he's officially been moved from Friday to Saturday due to the weather. Per reports, Strider will throw only three innings against the Rays this weekend.
The move will put Strider on a traditional rest schedule for his Opening Day start in Philadelphia, eliminating the one additional day of rest he was initially expected to get. There's no word, as of now, if Max Fried will move back from Saturday to Chris Sale's Sunday spot or if one of the two will choose to throw on the backfields on their established start day, as Sale did in lieu of his start on Wednesday. Either way, both pitchers would have one additional day of rest prior to their first starts of the season thanks to Atlanta's off day after game one of the Philly series.
