In his first start of the young season, and just his third MLB start overall, Darius Vines had a solid outing against the Houston Astros allowing one run and four hits with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. The Braves’ rookie has earned himself another start as he’s slated to take the mound against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers on Sunday. However, our very own Braves Insider Grant McAuley explained why he thinks Bryce Elder will be back with the Braves sooner rather than later despite early success from Vines.
“He pitched well enough to earn another start," McAuley said. "But I’m still of the opinion that eventually we are going to see Bryce Elder.”
McAuley said he thinks it’s assured Elder gets called up soon, and the reason he’s not already with the big league club could be all due to timing.
“I just feel like it’s kind of inevitable that you would go to the guy that has the most big league success," McAuley said. "There may have been a few factors that go into why he’s not already been up, he being Bryce Elder, because when you option a guy down at the end of Spring Training they have to stay down for a certain amount of time unless there’s an injury.
"But if he’s already pitched then it doesn’t help because he’s not available. So then you start calling other names up, and they may have been kind of playing this little game of musical chairs to finally time it out to get Bryce Elder into the rotation. That would be kind of my read on it.”
If Vines has anywhere from a solid to a lights-out start on Sunday maybe they stick with the hot hand. But anything other than that it seems like Elder will have his number called to possibly be the guy to fill the hole that Spencer Strider created when he went down with his season ending UCL injury.