Braves: Chris Martin returns from IL, Luke Jackson heads to the paternity list

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This morning, the Braves activated Chris Martin from the Injured List.

At first glance, when I saw Luke Jackson‘s name, I was extremely nervous. That shows just how much Jackson has meant to this team. Over 56 innings, he’s posted a 2.09 ERA to go along with 10.4 strikeouts per nine, leading to 2.0 bWAR. There hasn’t been a more productive reliever out of the Braves bullpen, and they can I’ll-afford to lose him to injury.

Thankfully, Jackson isn’t injured; he’s just headed to the paternity list, so he won’t miss more than a couple of games at most. I’m not sure who the Braves will send down or release once Jackson returns, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Drew Smyly. He hasn’t pitched since September 8th, and based on what Alex Anthopoulos said the other day on Dukes and Bell, it doesn’t sound like there are any plans for him to return to the rotation.

As far as Martin goes, he was awful before going down with injury, giving up four earned runs over his last four appearances (3.1 innings). However, relief pitching can be extremely volatile, so hopefully this time to rest and regroup did him some good, and the Braves get the 2020 version of Martin the rest of the way. That would be a huge boost to a bullpen that has come around a lot as of late.

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