Braves September Call-Ups
By Eric Graff
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 September call-ups are………………… Freddy Garcia, Kameron Loe, and Jose Constanza? That’s it?
Unfortunately, that is all… for now, but more help will eventually be on the way.
Freddy Garcia has already seen action, pitching in long relief of Alex Wood on Sunday and he pitched surprisingly well, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings. Freddy might get a spot start to rest one of the Braves young starters, but hopefully will not be used in anything resembling a high leverage situation. As for Kameron Loe, we saw how terrible he could be when he was called up for a few games earlier this season. In his 2 games with the Braves, he gave up 3 runs and was generally just awful to watch. Loe will actually make a spot start on Wednesday to skip Julio Teheran in order to give Julio some extra rest. Teheran will return to the rotation on September 10th against the Marlins. All I can say about that is that I’m happy we have a 15 game lead. Hopefully, Fredi Gonzalez will use these two guys correctly and only stick them in when we are in need of long relief or in blow-outs.
There are a few other guys that will be activated soon or called-up when the minor league season is over.
Evan Gattis will be back with the team on Tuesday after a couple of minor league games to get him some extra at bats. El Oso Blanco has spent 3 games with Gwinnett and has been ripping up the competition. He is 6-for-13 with 3 doubles (a couple of them were shots off the wall), a home run and only 1 K. It will be nice to see the White Bear back in Atlanta.
Brandon Beachy, Jason Heyward and Reed Johnson will all be activated off the DL soon. Since the rosters are now expanded, they can take up a roster spot without leaving the Braves short-handed while they recover. The Braves are hoping they can get Reed back by the middle of September and hope to get Heyward back by the end of the month. Neither one of those are set in stone, but the Braves are hopeful.
I assume that outfielder Todd Cunningham will join the club after the minor league season is over (to provide defensive depth) and maybe infielder Phil Gosselin will join him as well. I hope that the power-hitting Ernesto Mejia gets a call up to give Freddie Freeman a couple of games off down the stretch and it would also be a nice reward for Mejia for having a nice season down in Gwinnett, where he currently has 35 doubles and 28 homers . A couple of pitchers that are on the Braves 40-man roster that could see a call-up are David Hale and Aaron Northcraft, with old friend Cory Gearrin as an outside possibility.
We will keep you updated as moves occur, but for now, this is what the Braves have to work with.