April 23: Atlanta officially announced the selection of both Carrasco and Ritchie. Fuentes was elected to return to Gwinnett, and Dodd headed to the 15-day injured list. However, Dodd’s designation of the official injury to the team was not of the oblique type, but rather “inflammation of the thoracic spine.” The team’s initial announcement did not provide a timetable for Dodd’s return, but manager Walt Weiss will likely provide more details in today’s pregame media session.
April 22: The Braves pick the right veteran Carlos Carrasco on the MLB roster, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Left hand Dylan Dodd will go on the 15-day injured list with an oblique strain. Carrasco will be available in long relief at the back JR Ritchiewho will start tomorrow in his first game in the big league.
Atlanta already has two spots on the 40-man roster. They lost Osvaldo Bido on waivers from the White Sox over the weekend and designated hitter Ian Hamilton on assignment this morning. Adding Ritchie and Carrasco will get their roster back on track.
Carrasco, 39, will be in the big leagues for the 17th season. He made three starts in Atlanta last summer as part of a revolving door of deep arms while the rotation was decimated by injuries. Carrasco allowed 15 runs in 13 2/3 innings and finished the season in Triple-A. The Braves brought him back to a new major league deal at the start of the offseason.
Carrasco is off to a great start with a top affiliate at Gwinnett. He owns a 1.71 earned run average in his first four appearances. Carrasco struck out 21% of opposing batters with a walk rate of less than 6%. He’s only in the 90-91 mph range on his fastballs, relying heavily on his slider and changeup to compensate.
Arsenal have not played at MLB level in the last few seasons. Carrasco owns a 6.36 ERA among four teams since the start of the 2023 campaign. Atlanta needed a bullpen length option that has gotten a lot of work over the past few days.
The last two starters, Reynaldo López again Didier Fuenteshe threw four combined innings. Although Ritchie has the best chance, he is not a lock to work deep into the game in his first outing against the big team. He will be facing a Nationals team that started the season hot after a good few months since James Wood again CJ Abrams. Aside from the newly optioned Fuentes, Ritchie and Carrasco are the top two Triple-A starters in Atlanta.
