Atlanta Braves Clippings Friday, July 17, 2020 Braves.com Freeman unlikely to be ready for opener By Mark Bowman ATLANTA -- It seems unlikely Freddie Freeman will be ready for Opening Day, which is scheduled for July 24 against the Mets at Citi Field. But the Braves have not yet determined the season-opening status of Freeman, who has not been able to join the team since testing positive for COVID-19 on July 3. “I’m sure at some point if he doesn’t get in here, we’ll have to talk about that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said on Thursday. “But we haven’t decided the date yet.” Though the Braves are understandably clinging to the hope of having their All-Star first baseman available as much as possible during the upcoming 60-game season, the fact is the clock is working against them. Or, it might actually be more accurate to suggest it has already expired. The Braves will enjoy an off-day on Friday and then have three days of workouts leading up to their exhibition games against the Marlins on Tuesday and Wednesday at Truist Park. They’ll travel to New York the following day before playing their season opener against the Mets that Friday. But before guessing how many days Freeman might need to prepare for the season, it must be remembered he can’t even join the team before getting two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Freeman battled a fever for a couple days, but he has felt good for the past 10. But until he gets those two negative results, he will not be permitted to be with his Braves teammates. So with Opening Day eight days away, it certainly seems unrealistic to think Freeman will be ready for the season opener. Even if he gets the desired testing results within the next couple days, it would not be wise to rush his preparations and possibly lose him over a longer period. Freeman has been able to swing a bat and do some workouts at his home over the past week. But he hasn’t seen live pitching and he doesn’t want to have a setback like he did in February, when he taxed his surgically repaired right wrist too soon. “It’s a whole total body thing, getting your body back going,” Snitker said. “I’m sure it’s something we’ll have to discuss. I think after the off-day tomorrow, we’ll be approaching our last five days, and those are issues we’ll have to address.” While Freeman is unavailable, Austin Riley could serve as the Braves’ primary first baseman. Riley has also been targeted to see a lot of time at third base, though Johan Camargo is also quite capable of handling the hot corner. The Braves might also be without All-Star reliever Will Smith and right-handed pitcher Touki Toussaint, who still have not tested negative, despite being asymptomatic. Non-roster first baseman Peter O'Brien was placed on the 10-day injured list on Thursday because he had been in contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19. O’Brien was not considered a Opening Day roster candidate. But given the uncertainty surrounding Freeman, the Braves want to preserve their depth at the first-base position. Hamels update While Snitker chose to hold out hope for Freeman, he was willing to concede Cole Hamels will likely be unavailable to begin the season. Hamels threw a pain-free side session on Thursday, but he remains behind schedule. The 36-year-old left-hander missed Spring Training with left shoulder inflammation. Though he had four extra months to recover, he still was not ready to throw live batting practice when Summer Camp began on July 3. He then missed a side session last weekend because of triceps tendinitis. The Braves had planned to limit Hamels to three to four innings during his first couple starts. But given he still has not faced live hitters, they will not rush him and possibly further jeopardize the approximate $7 million investment (prorated portion of his $18 million salary) they’ll make in him this year. “We’ll see where he is when we get back in here on Saturday,” Snitker said. “I don’t know if there is time for him to be ready to go in the beginning. But we’ll see where he’s at after his side today.” Rotation vacancy With the expectation Hamels will be unavailable, the Braves could initially fill their rotation’s fifth spot with Kyle Wright, who impressed Snitker while throwing three solid innings during Thursday afternoon’s intrasquad game. Wright, who is ranked baseball’s No. 52 prospect by MLB Pipeline, was slightly behind at the start of camp because he came in contact with somebody who had tested positive for COVID-19. He stayed away from the team until he received the two negative tests needed to return. The Braves rotation will include Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb. Josh Tomlin and dark horse candidate Tucker Davidson are among those competing against Wright for the fifth spot. Atlanta Journal-Constitution Braves’ Cristian Pache has a Grade-2 ankle sprain By Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution It’s “going to be a little while” until top outfield prospect Cristian Pache returns, Braves manager Brian Snitker said. Pache suffered a Grade-2 ankle sprain during Monday’s intrasquad game. He’s now at the alternate camp in Gwinnett, where he’ll eventually work out with other players who won’t factor into the Braves’ immediate plans. The speedy outfielder was injured on a late slide at second base. He walked off on his own power and Snitker said after the game that the medical staff thought Pache could play the next day. The soreness proved worse than they anticipated, Pache was scratched from Tuesday’s lineup and has since been sidelined. “It’s not bad, but he’s going to need a few days,” Snitker said Wednesday. A healthy Pache might make his major-league debut later this season. Pache, 21, has impressed with his physical growth and maturity over the past two years. To start the season, the Braves will rely on outfield combinations determined by matchups. Ronald Acuna, Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte, Adam Duvall and soon-to-be signee Yasiel Puig are their primary outfielders. Baseball America rated Pache as the Braves’ No. 1 prospect entering the season, giving him 70-grade running, fielding and arm. The publication added it’s “easy to project Pache as a Gold Glove center fielder.” Need to see pitching depth Braves keep talking about By Michael Cunningham, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Braves talk a lot about their deep pitching. I buy that for the bullpen. I had a hard time seeing it with the starters even before Felix Hernandez decided to sit out the COVID-19 season and Cole Hamels developed arm soreness last weekend. Now the rotation looks shaky beyond Mike Soroka and Max Fried. That’s why Kyle Wright’s first intrasquad scrimmage appearance Thursday carried some weight. Wright had been missing from the Truist Park mound because he got a late start to summer camp. He said he was possibly exposed to someone with COVID-19 and so couldn’t rejoin the Braves until twice testing negative. That setback meant Wright had to build up his arm again before facing hitters in a live game. He pitched three innings against teammates Thursday. “I feel good now,” Wright said via Zoom. “Getting that outing today was a good test to see where I felt. The more I threw, the better I felt. That’s definitely the way I want to be trending.” This might have been a minor development under normal circumstances. It’s significant now that the Braves almost certainly need Wright, their highest-rated pitching prospect, as part of their rotation. He was bad as a Braves starter in 2019 but finished strong for Triple-A Gwinnett, then recorded lots of strikeouts with few walks at spring training. The Braves have options to “piggyback” their starters’ short outings early in the season as a bridge to the deep bullpen. The question is whether there are enough good choices. And, at some point, they’ll need more than two reliable starters for the back half of the 60-game sprint. Lefty Hamels was to be the reliable veteran for the Braves this season in the same mold as Dallas Keuchel last season. Then he aggravated his throwing shoulder in January and didn’t pitch in spring training. The expectation was that Hamels could be ready for the restart 3 ½ months later, but his last bullpen session got scratched because of triceps soreness. Hamels says he needs three outings in game conditions to build up to 60-65 pitches. Opening day is a week away. Hamels threw on the side Thursday and will be evaluated after an off day on Friday, Braves manager Brian Snitker said. But he added: “I don’t know that there’s time right now for him to be ready to go in the beginning.” Hamels, 36, still can be good if healthy. He was having a good year for the Cubs in 2019 before the shoulder became a problem. There’s just not much time for Hamels to ease into a 60-game season. With Hamels on the shelf, the Braves’ rotation is headed by 2019 All-Star Soroka and Fried. They are a good pair: FanGraphs projects 1.2 Wins Above Replacement for both pitchers, tied for the 25th-best among MLB starters.