There were a lot of jokes in last night’s Game Thread that Austin Cox, who wore a few innings of mop-up duty after Spencer Strider’s misadventures, would be the one sent packing to Triple-A Gwinnett, but… nope. Cox survives to pitch mop-up duty another day, and instead, it’s a roster shuffle with four players in total:
Let’s run down the participants in order.
The Braves acquired Dane Dunning in mid-July. but he’s been in the minors since August 1. He’s made four relief appearances as a Brave, with two being really good and two being horrific. His combined line is 339/121/96 (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), and is inflated by the outing that got him sent down, where he and the defense failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. (Five days earlier, he struck out four of the six batters he faced, with the defense retiring the other two.)
Connor Seabold may be a new name for some — the Braves claimed him on waivers on August 10. He’s appeared in parts of four MLB seasons in his career, pitching for the Red Sox, Rockies, and Rays, including an extended run in Colorado in 2023. However, he’s pitched pretty terribly: 164/130/131, without any real success in Triple-A, either. You can actually see why the Braves like him if you look at his pitch data, as he has an interesting cutter/slider thing and a pretty insane changeup-esque floater pitch. But, nothing has worked out with him pitching-wise so far, and even the Rays punted on keeping him around.
Daysbel Hernandez is, among many other things, a disappointment in the “2025” category. After a nice 18-inning showing last year, he’s been the bad kind of pants for the Braves so far this year: 65/107/134. He’s been up and down a few times, but hasn’t had a multi-strikeout outing since July 12, and hasn’t had a multistrikeout outing where he’s walked fewer batters than he’s struck out since July 5. He allowed a homer and two walks without striking anyone out last night, which is probably why he’s going to do to Gwinnett to think about what he did.
Hunter Stratton picked up a three-inning save a few days ago in Cleveland. He’ll be back up the next time the Braves need a fresher arm to eat innings. When he does, he’ll return to a 170/130/168 line on the season, and a 0/74/139 line as a Brave.
