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Kyle Wright will begin his bid for a rotation spot when the Braves face the Rays in the season-opener of the Grapefruit League for both teams on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Sports Park.
Wright is expected to start and pitch two innings for the Braves, who will also have Sean Newcomb, Grant Dayton, Carl Edwards Jr., Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel all available to make a relief appearance.
According to the spring 2021 training protocols, the spring games until March 13 will be scheduled as seven-round games but, by mutual agreement of the two managers, they may be shortened to five innings or extended to nine innings. . Matches that take place after March 14 will be scheduled as nine-end matches, but may be shortened to seven-end matches. Braves manager Brian Snitker has said he expects all of his team’s games to be scheduled for seven innings during that two-week period.
With a road game also scheduled for Monday against the Red Sox, Snitker said he expected to play only half of his scheduled regulars in the Grapefruit League opener.
“I think we’ll just spread it out,” Snitker said. “We have a lot of guys that we want to see.”
The Braves’ rotation plans will depend on what is determined regarding Mike Soroka in the coming weeks. While the team hasn’t ruled out the possibility that Soroka will be ready at the start of the regular season, he is expected to have more time to recover from a torn right Achilles tendon.
If Soroka does start the season on the injured list, Wright and Bryse Wilson are the best candidates for the vacant rotational spot.
Wright has been on the Atlanta opening list each of the past two seasons. But the 25-year-old right-hander has posted a 6.59 ERA for a total of just 12 career starts so far. He showed some promise when he finished last year’s regular season with three good starts, then pitched six scoreless innings against the Marlins in Game 3 of the National League Division series.
The arrival of Freeman
Freddie Freeman has spent this week caring for his wife, Chelsea, who gave birth to the couple’s third son last weekend. The reigning NL MVP is expected to arrive in Florida on Friday night and complete his admissions tests on Saturday. That sets him up to start training with his Braves teammates on Monday.
Even if Freeman missed the entire first week of the Grapefruit League season, he would still have more than three weeks to prepare for the opening.
“It’s not a big deal at all,” Snitker said. “As you will recall, it is generally warm for the first 10 days of [the Grapefruit League season] then bored for 10 days, then turns on again. I don’t care about that at all.
Other spring training protocols
For spring practice games through March 13, defensive managers will have the option of completing an inning before the third out, provided at least 20 throws have been totaled in the half inning and an appearance in the marble is not in progress. This will end the common practice of having to call in possibly unprepared Minor League pitchers to make a hard entry after a pitcher exceeds his number of targeted pitches in an inning.
The three-hitter minimum rule will be in effect for each game played on March 14 or later.
Managers will also have the opportunity to return to the pitchers throughout the spring training. This will give managers the ability to use a reliever in a certain situation to complete a set, and then potentially bring their starter back to start the next set.
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