Braves finding ways to address starting rotation
It’s opening day for the Atlanta Braves as they get set for a six game homestand beginning with a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals and Chris Sale taking the mound on Friday, Reynaldo Lopez on Saturday and Grant Holmes on Sunday.
And while that will get the Braves through their opening series, injuries to Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep leave the unknown in regards to who takes the mound once the Braves face the A’s.
“Right now, I think you could see somebody like Didier Fuentes, who we’re really excited about,” Braves’ President, Baseball Operations and General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos, said as he joined 92-9 The Game’s Carl Dukes and Mike Bell to preview the start of Atlanta’s season and how the team may approach their five-man starting rotation. “He looks a lot better than obviously he did a year ago at this time,” continued as he shared who the Braves may turn to for the fourth and fifth starting roles.
“Martin Perez is certainly going to be an option. He’ll be lined up to pitch as well if we need him. And a guy like Jose Suarez, who had some success with Anaheim a few years ago as a starter, been up and down since, but we made some tweaks to the way he’s going to go about the way he attacks guys,” Anthopoulos said of the Braves’ pitchers expected to be called on.Braves may call on Didier Fuentes to fill starting role
