BREAKING: Kyle Wright to IL; Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster to both make starts in the first week
Answering the burning question "Which of Jared Shuster or Dylan Dodd would make the Opening Day roster and be the 5th starter?" is apparently easier than we expected it to be.
It's both of them.
Reporting from North Port, beat writers Mark Bowman of MLB.com and David O'Brien of The Athletic both report that Kyle Wright will officially begin the season on the IL, with plans for him to be activated for the 2nd game of Atlanta's opening homestand, April 7th against the Padres.
Wright was slowed by shoulder soreness over the winter, prompting a cortisone injection into the shoulder in January. He made his first Grapefruit League appearance of the season on March 20th, going 2.2 innings with five hits and four runs versus the Rays. The plan was for him to receive one more Grapefruit League start and one minor league start, positioning him for a start in the back half of Atlanta's season-opening road trip to Washington and St. Louis.
The new plan will be for Wright to pitch one game with minor leaguers in Extended Spring Training and one start for AAA Gwinnett, against Norfolk, before returning to Atlanta for the April 7th start against San Diego.
The expected starting rotation for the season is as follows:
Fried (March 30th at Washington)
Strider (April 1 at Washington)
Shuster (April 2 at Washington)
Morton (April 3 at St. Louis)
Dodd (April 4 at St. Louis)
Fried (April 5 at St. Louis)
Strider (April 6 - home opener vs Padres)
For roster management reasons, it's entirely possible that Dodd does not break camp with the team and is added prior to that April 4th game - pitchers must spend 15 days in the minors before being called up to the majors, but injury replacements can bypass that rule.
UPDATE: The above scenario ends up being true - Shuster will made the squad, while Dodd will be added before his start.
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