The Braves are back in town following a nine game swing out West and there’s no west for the weary as the Braves will now have to deal with the Cubs. It’s a showdown between the two top teams in the National League and while the Braves will be happy to get Ha-Seong Kim back just in time for this series, they’ll be missing two of their regular contributors.
Sean Murphy recently went on the IL with a fractured finger and while it’s the 10-day variety, the snakebitten catcher may be looking at another extended period of time on the IL. “It’s a broken bone so you’re probably looking at eight weeks,” stated Walt Weiss when he was asked about the situation. “Then you take into account that you gotta get back into baseball shape so it’ll be some time.”
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While the Braves aren’t expecting to have Sean Murphy back any time soon, there was some anticipation that Ronald Acuña Jr. could be back in time for this series. Unfortunately, Weiss had to throw some cold water on that thought by stated that Acuña still has a bit more time left to recover before he’ll be ready to play again. “Ronnie’s doing well. He’s progressing. He’s still out. I think we’ll get through this homestand and re-evaluate again,” explained Weiss. “He’s still got some work out in front of him. He is progressing so that’s a good thing. We still got some time before we see Ronnie.”
Fortunately, the Braves are finally getting back their primary starting shortstop, as Ha-Seong Kim has been activated from the IL and is in the starting lineup. With that being said, it’s tough to expect a seamless transition and Walt Weiss is aware of the challenge at hand for Kim as he makes his return. “That’s a challenge for everybody, I don’t care who you are. I will say that I’m excited to have Kim back,” stated Weiss. “He does everything well — every aspect of the game, he does well. He’s got a really high baseball IQ, he’s a winning player. I feel like we’re playing really well and I feel like we’re a good team and we get better today with Kim.”
Weiss also talked about how he’s been able to utilize Mauricio Dubón’s versatility in the meantime in order to make it work with both Dubón and Kim. “We’re short in the outfield so Dubón continues to play in the outfield. Kim’s going to play a lot at shortstop virtually every day,” explained Weiss. “Also, I had a conversation with Kim and I’ll be in tune with his workload because it’s always different when guys haven’t had a spring training. Regardless of how long your rehab assignment is, it’s not quite the same as a spring training to prepare for a season. I’ll pick my spots with Kim and we’re going to communicate how he’s feeling and we don’t want to run him into the ground…I’m excited to have him back and excited to watch him play.”
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I did get a chance to ask Weiss about Grant Holmes returning to the mound after a bit of a layoff and he took that time to explain how things are going with the entire back-end of the rotiaton. “The schedule has dictated some of this. We’ve tried to keep six guys stretched out,” revealed Weiss. “ A few of them like Martín Pérez and Grant Holmes have bounced back-and-forth between the bullpen and the rotation while we try to juggle this thing. We’ve got 13 games in a row so we’ll probably use six starters over this this 13-game stretch.”
It’s not a huge shock that the Braves have gone with a six-man rotation since they’ve usually tried to make sure that guys like Chris Sale in particular are getting plenty of rest but it’s still good information to have when it comes to their rotational decisions going forward. “We’re trying to give guys extra rest and sometimes it’s based on matchups. Trying to keep six guys stretched out is a bit of a challenge,” said Weiss. “But, they responded really well — Martín has done an unbelievable job in that role and I understand it’s not ideal. I told Martín this, too. These guys have handled it really well and we’re just trying to keep as many guys involved and keep our starting depth what it is and keep these guys stretched out all at the same time. They’ve all been really good pieces for us.”
Still, the Braves are going to be tested mightily with the situation that they’re currently in where they have to face the Cubs immediately after taking on the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. With that being said, Weiss appears to be pretty confident that his players can ace the test once again.
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“No matter what part of the schedule you’re in, it’s a test,” stated Weiss. “We come back 6-3 [from the road trip] and we get ‘rewarded’ by having to play the Cubs the first series at home. It’s a tough stretch in our schedule but our guys have met all the challenges so far that the game has confronted us with — whether it’s the schedule or what have you. Our guys just continue to meet the challenges head on.”
