Braves add former Cardinals reliever

dmz 210604 17 cin at stl

The season hasn’t even started yet, and you can already see why pitching depth is so vital to success. Relievers Kirby Yates and Jay Jackson will begin the season on the 60-day IL, and unfortunately, Luke Jackson could join them. It was reported yesterday that The Sliderman has been experiencing forearm tightness, which can mean just about anything, but we saw Tucker Davidson miss over three months with forearm tightness last season.

The 162-game season is always a grind, and the deepest team usually comes out on top, which is why Alex Anthopoulos continues to add to his pitching staff. Yesterday, the Braves signed Seth Elledge to a minor-league pact.

As O’Brien notes, Elledge has a 4.63 ERA over 23 major-league appearances. At just 25-years-old, there’s a chance the Braves can get something to click that the Cardinals weren’t able to. He clearly has fantastic swing-and-miss stuff, featuring a K/9 of over 10 at every level of the minors, but walks have been a problem for him in the majors.

If everything goes perfectly for the Braves bullpen, they probably won’t need Elledge, but things rarely always go as planned. These are the types of under-the-radar signings that have often brought a lot of value to the Braves since Alex Anthopoulos took over as general manager. At the very least, Elledge offers more depth with some upside that’s more difficult to find so close to the start of the season.

Photo: Rick Ulreich/Icon Sportswire

Scroll to Top
%d bloggers like this: