Following their four-game win over the Rockies over the weekend, the Braves made a small roster change:
Rios signed a minor league contract with the Braves back in January and spent part of the spring representing Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic. He didn’t make it out of spring practice at the club and instead went to Triple-A Gwinnett where he had a 1.46 ERA, 2.74 FIP and 4 xFIP in 21 appearances over 24 2⁄3 innings. 47 scored.
Because Rios was never included in Atlanta’s 40-man roster, he never really got a chance to compete in the bullpen shuffle. For various reasons, the likes of newcomers Ben Heller, Dereck Rodriguez and Danny Young have been used to fill gaps in substitute availability. As such, this move is less about trimming potentially needed depth and more about giving a man a chance to turn some minor league performances into a more likely major league opportunity, and if all goes well, stay you at a squad. The Braves have performed so well for various players in their organization over the years, so one here isn’t too surprising.
Still, despite batting nearly a third of batters for Gwinnett that year, Rios didn’t do much to make him an exciting pick. His walk rate (8.5 percent) and fly ball rate (a sky-high, pun kind of intended, 54 percent) made it difficult to credit him for anything other than a clean-up role, and the Braves already have plenty of clean-up options.
Me? I’m just sad that at one point I wrote, “Yackety is fired, he’s coming back,” but now… won’t he? Oh.
Update – Rios had a release clause in his contract that required the Braves to add him to the major league roster tomorrow or trade him to a team willing to take him according to a report by Justin Toscano of the AJC.
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