With the Atlanta Braves suffering another injury as Orlando Arcia went down in Wednesday’s win over the Reds with a micro fracture in his wrist, eyes have been turned to the Gwinnett Stripers to see who the club may call up to fill the shortstop gap.
Options for Atlanta include Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake, who both were competing to make the Opening Day roster. However back in March the Braves announced both would be optioned to Triple-A.
On Thursday, the Braves officially announced that Arcia would be placed on the 10-day injured list. Jon Chuckery speculates that Arcia’s time out could be extended beyond that for more of a precautionary measure.
“My guess is even after 10 days, they’ll reevaluate him and probably maybe sit him a little bit longer,” Chuckery said, pointing to the microfracture “needing a little bit more time to heal.”
The Braves are now faced with replacing Arcia’s production as he was hitting .333 through 13 games with 15 hits in 45 at-bats along with seven RBI and 10 runs.
“With injury comes opportunity and it should be Vaughn Grissom time at this point,” Chuckery said as he called for the 22 year old to be the one Atlanta looks to.
Chuckery noted that Grissom was not in the Stripers lineup for Thursday night’s game and he believes that there is a chance he would be joining the Braves in Kansas City as they prepare for their next series against the Royals.
“Most likely he’ll be there in Kansas City, he’ll be the starting shortstop and we’ll see what it is,” Chuckery continued and adding that his hope is for the second year player to “make the most of this,” and create a situation in which the Braves are faced with having to decide on whether or not “Arcia is going to get his job back.”