BREAKING: Braves option AJ Smith-Shawver to AAA Gwinnett
We said during yesterday's takeaways that you'd see a transaction on Monday morning, but we thought it'd be Chadwick Tromp going to Gwinnett.
It was not.
The Atlanta Braves announced this morning that they have optioned AJ Smith-Shawver to AAA Gwinnett.
Smith-Shawver, who is Atlanta's #1 prospect and was just re-ranked to baseball's #68 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA in his four big league appearances, three of those being starts. He's pitched a total of sixteen and two-thirds innings, with fifteen strikeouts, six walks, and five home runs allowed.
He was originally scheduled to start Wednesday's series finale against Minnesota, and obviously a transaction is probably going to come between now and then for a new starter (although with a day off immediately after, a bullpen game is always a possibility). Michael Soroka, who was optioned back to Gwinnett after two starts, has pitched much better in his time back in AAA, going 2-0 in his last three starts with seven hits, four runs (three earned), and eighteen strikeouts in his last nineteen innings. Having last pitched on June 22nd, he's an option for Wednesday's start.
The corresponding move for Atlanta was to bring up reliever Dereck Rodríguez - the 31 year-old has pitched two innings for Atlanta, giving up one hit, one walk, and striking out one. He'll bolster a bullpen that had to cover extra innings over the weekend in the barnburner against Cincinnati.
We'll update Wednesday's starter when we know more.
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