The Braves have a couple of spots in the rotation they need to address next time around. The first is Max Fried’s – who was placed on the 10-day IL yesterday with a blister on his throwing hand. The second is Bryse Wilson’s – who hasn’t shown enough in his last three starts to warrant the Braves keeping him in the majors. Nothing has been announced in regards to who will fill these spots, but it is likely Kevin Gausman assumes one of them.
Gausman’s miserable first two months of the season resulted in a timely stint on the Injured List. He began his rehab starts a few weeks ago in High-A ball with the Fire Frogs and has worked his way up to AAA Gwinnett, where he threw seven innings of two-run ball with ten strikeouts for the Stripers last night. That followed an outing in which he threw six scoreless frames for Mississippi while allowing only three hits. According to Kelsey Wingert, Gausman has been working on a cutter and breaking ball to add to his typical two-pitch repertoire.
The former Oriole is a notorious second-half pitcher and had a 2.87 ERA in ten starts for Atlanta after they acquired him before the trade deadline last year. With Fried now on the IL, the Braves need help badly at the back end of their rotation. Gausman likely won’t be an option when talking about a postseason rotation, but he could help this team position themselves for October and possibly be a weapon out of the bullpen during the playoffs.