The Atlanta Braves are officially doing the bullpen shuffle. It’s not nearly as glamorous as the Super Bowl Shuffle (kids, YouTube is free) but it’s the type of thing that has to happen in order to keep a season going sometimes. This time, the focus is on two pitchers: Rolddy Muñoz is going down and now Hayden Harris is coming up.
Muñoz’s return to the big leagues went about as well as his initial stint did, which is to say that it didn’t exactly go well. Muñoz got two innings under his belt and struck out three batters but gave up three runs in the process — his very first pitch got absolutely crushed right after the Braves had cut their deficit to two runs, which was the ultimate sign that the pitching staff probably didn’t have it on this particular night.
Now, it’ll be Hayden Harris’ turn to see if he can improve upon his initial stint in the big leagues. Harris made three appearances last season and while his ERA numbers looked perfectly fine during that stint, he had a wild xERA of 11.21 and a FIP of 5.39. He’ll be coming up with an ERA of 4.76 and a FIP of 4.63 through 5.2 innings of work at the Triple-A level so far. He had an instance where he walked four batters against the Round Rock Express back on April 1 and three of those runners scored. As long as he can stay out of trouble on the basepaths then things’ll be fine. Hopefully Harris will be able to make the best out of this opportunity going forward.
We also got word that Sean Murphy’s rehab assignment is officially official. He’s going to Rome, y’all. Grab your tickets if you’re up there.
