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Bryce Elder dealt with minor traffic on the basepaths during his time in this game but was able to get out of each situation without giving up a run. He was also helped by some solid defense (particularly from Jim Jarvis) as the Braves cruised to another spring training win in Grapefruit League action.
Elder got the ball to get things going on the road against the Tigers and he ended up getting three innings deep into this one. You could argue that the pitches that Elder gave up for hit in this one could potentially turn into those familiar hangers of his getting hit for homers during the regular season but that’s purely hypothetical at this point. As far as what actually happened on the diamond today, Elder only gave up singles on each of the three hits he gave up and that was all the trouble he had to deal with.
It also helped that the Braves flashed some serious leather in the infield today in order to help their pitcher out in this one. Jonah Heim made a heads-up play in the first inning by catching Jake Rogers straying a bit too far from second base in order to snuff out the scoring threat and end the inning right then and there.
Elder gave up singles in the second and third inning but they both got wiped out after Elder induced a ground ball that resulted in shortstop (and former Tigers prospect) Jim Jarvis either turning a double play (in spectacular fashion, no less) or being part of a double play. Jarvis also recorded a put-out in the first inning, so he was all over the place in a good way. All in all, Elder ended with three scoreless innings under his belt with just three hits allowed and a strikeout, to boot. His performance today certainly won’t hurt any chances that he’s got at making the rotation to start this season.
Speaking of Jim Jarvis, his defense wasn’t his only contribution to this one. Jarvis didn’t record any hits but he reached base twice — the first time was on an error and the second time also involved an error and it resulted in the Braves breaking the scoreless deadlock in this one. It wasn’t particularly a dominant performance from Jarvis but once again, it’s one of those efforts that won’t go unnoticed from the decision-makers for this particular ballclub.
Once Elder was done for the day, fellow rotation hopeful Joey Wentz got the ball and he delivered three scoreless innings of his own. Wentz walked two batters but he made up for it by racking up three strikeouts while he was out there, so this was certainly a productive day for Wentz that also didn’t hurt his chances for consideration, either.
Prospect Owen Murphy got a rude welcome to the game, however. Murphy entered the game in the seventh and after retiring the first batter he saw, Brett Callahan got the better of him by going down to one knee in order to golf one out of the park to make it 4-1 Braves. Fortunately, Murphy recovered from that slip-up by only giving up a walk over the course of the final five batters he faced — including three strikeouts during that span as well. It was certainly an impressive recovery.
The Braves ended up cruising to another relatively comfortable spring training win and a big part of that was due to another roster hopeful making his presence felt at the plate. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. is looking to snatch up a roster spot for Opening Day and he made a loud statement with a two-run opposite-field dinger that brought the Braves to a three-run lead.
Braves top prospect Cal Conley entered this game in the sixth inning and made his presence felt with a couple of RBI singles in this one. He came up to the second and drove in Jose Azocar by taking a slider that was low and out of the zone and grounding it into the outfield to make it 4-0 Braves at the time. He then restored Atlanta’s four-run lead once he returned to the plate in the ninth inning against Ricky Vanasco.
Right after Vanasco had got done striking out John Gil, Conley made up for it by shooting one through the infield for a RBI single that plated Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. and made it 5-1 Atlanta. While John Gil was the prospect to keep an eye on heading into this one, it was Cal Conley who ended up being the star prospect of today’s show. He even made an impressive play on a hot shot towards him in the bottom of the ninth as well. Similarly to Jim Jarvis, Conley was all over the place in a positive manner while he was out there.
So once more, there was a lot to like from how the Braves looked in this one. As usual for a road game during spring training, a lot of these players are longshots to make the big league roster for Opening Day but if you’re keeping an intentional eye on the organizational depth, it’s been encouraging to see these guys put things together here in spring training so far. The Braves are off tomorrow and actually won’t be in (official) Grapefruit League action until Thursday, as Atlanta will be facing off against Team Colombia at 1:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoon. We’ll see you then!