Braves Call Up JR Ritchie, Shortstop Suffers Injury

The Atlanta Braves made an adjustment to their pitching. JR Ritchie is expected to be scratched from his start down in Triple-A Gwinnett, per source. It is unclear if he will make a start for the Braves, but he is expected to be recalled.

When the Braves made the move official, they announced that Ha-Seong Kim had been placed on the 10-day injured list with right middle finger inflammation. Anthony Molina was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the pitching staff for Ritchie. Kyle Farmer has also been reinstated from the injured list.

Ritchie was recently optioned to Triple-A, but it hasn't been 15 days yet. For that reason, it was apparent that an injury update would be coming.

According to the MLB rules, if a player is "replacing a player who has been placed on the injured list, there is no minimum number of days for which the optioned player must remain in the Minors."

There is no upcoming doubleheader.

This isn't the first time this season that a pitcher has been recalled sooner than 15 days after being optioned.

When Didier Fuentes was most recently called up from Triple-A, it was less than 15 days since he had been optioned. He was recalled five days after the Braves last optioned him, and he has been up in the majors ever since. That lined up with Dylan Lee being placed on the paternity list.

Like Fuentes, Ritchie could be an option out of the bullpen. Since he's stretched out, he could serve as a long reliever. The Braves have six rotation options with Ritchie, so they have the flexibility to give him that opportunity out of the bullpen.

Walt Weiss has even recently spoken about how they were managing a bullpen that was down an arm. This would solve that issue.

As of now, Chris Sale, Martín Pérez and Reynaldo López are penciled in to start the remaining games of the series against the Mets. Bryce Elder is currently not scheduled to pitch, and his last appearance was June 27. It can be presumed that he will pitch the series opener against the Pirates on Tuesday.

Hurston Waldrep was on the mound Thursday night for the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals. There is no plan to option him to Triple-A at this time, even as the bullpen is short an arm.

This is the same finger that required surgery back in January and caused Kim to miss spring training and the first few weeks of the season. Kim had been mightily struggling at the plate since he returned from that first stint.

In 82 plate appearances, he has batted .068 with a .239 OPS. Lately, he hasn't seen much action, and at times has exclusively seen time in games in the field as a late game substitute.

Now, he'll at least have the opportunity to get more work in behind the scenes. The Braves can now opt for him to get another rehab assignment in with Gwinnett and get him more at-bats.

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