AJ Smith-Shawver and Darius Vines combine for a complete-game shutout in AAA Gwinnett

Atlanta Braves righthanded pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver, Atlanta's #1 prospect, was sent down earlier this week without having pitched in a game during his brief time on the major league roster.

When asked, manager Brian Snitker explained that they wanted a reliever that could give them length, and Smith-Shawver had only pitched 1/3rd of an inning in September, when he was reinstated from the minor league injured list.

He did a bit better than that last night.

Smith-Shawver and Darius Vines, who followed and picked up the win, combined for nine innings of scoreless baseball with four hits (all charged to Vines) with five strikeouts in Gwinnett's 2-0 defeat of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins affiliate) last night in Jacksonville's 121 Financial Ballpark.

Smith-Shawver, pitching in only his 2nd game since being reinstated from the injured list, pitched the first three innings with no hits or runs allowed, walking one and striking out two. He allowed only two hard-hit balls (exit velocity of 95 mph or greater) in the outing.

In a bit of comforting news, Smith-Shawver's arm appears to be fine, as he hit 98 mph on his fastball. He actually threw the new curveball MORE than the slider last night, although it was a fastball-heavy outing as he looked to re-establish the health of the heater. He induced 15 swings, with four of them missing completely (two on the fastball and two on the curveball), good for a 27% Whiff rate.

Vines was an excellent piggyback, pitching the final six innings of the outing to pick up the win for Gwinnett.

As expected, Vines was a great stylistic contrast to Smith-Shawver, throwing almost half changeups and half variations of his fastball. He induced seven swings and misses on his 41 swings, a 17% Whiff rate, and forced seven of his 24 batters faced to ground out. He finished with two walks and three strikeouts, allowing four hits but no runs to score. Vines allowed seven hard-hit balls in his six innings of work, with two of them dropping for singles. None of Vines' hits allowed were for extra bases.

The outing comes at the perfect time for Smith-Shawver - reliever Brad Hand got blown up last night in Miami, allowing four runs in only a third of an inning thanks to three hits and a walk.

With the regular season winding down soon, Smith-Shawver's a candidate to make the postseason roster owing to his swing-and-miss stuff, a key required element for a reliever out of the pen. Showing both length and velocity, he's helped his case with the outing last night.

READ: Predicting the Atlanta Braves 2023 postseason roster

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