- 2 days ago
Grant McAuley talks about about Michael Harris not getting the start Thursday, the unexpected depth of the roster, how the team will use Reynaldo Lopez moving forward, the return of Spencer Strider, why there is still reason to believe Austin Riley can get it going, and if the Braves could keep three catchers when Sean Murphy returns.
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00:00And Grant McCauley moving around just a little bit this week with the Braves' early start today.
00:06He joins us right now to talk some Braves, and as always, brought to you by Mark's Spain Real Estate.
00:10Get a guaranteed offer from Mark's Spain Real Estate, 855-299-SOLD.
00:14Grant, how are you?
00:15What up, Jay?
00:16I'm doing well. I'm doing very well. Good to talk to you guys.
00:18I saw that you had some pretty good plans last night and some pretty good seats.
00:22We had some very nice seats.
00:24Again, thanks to many friends, Bo and Vince and everybody who got us in there.
00:30We also got to see a pretty damn good game, Grant.
00:33That was a lot of fun.
00:34And that's where I want to start.
00:36We were talking in the first segment about how it's so fun to compare to last year now
00:41because this year is so much better.
00:43Doesn't it feel like there's been more great moments in the month of April
00:46than there were in the entire season last year?
00:49It really does.
00:50And I feel like you could almost argue more great moments than we've seen even since maybe 2023
00:56because this is an offense that's starting to feel like that again.
00:58I know that in 2024 there were some moments they did get to the postseason
01:01and they weren't there for very long.
01:03But, yeah, last year really, I think, tested a lot of people in a lot of ways
01:07that we had not seen in the better part of a decade.
01:09So to have this kind of season, this kind of start offensively, pitching-wise,
01:14I think defensively for the most part,
01:16the Braves have also established themselves as a top-five club in baseball.
01:19So a lot of different things have stacked up to go right thus far this year.
01:23Grant, what is any status on Michael here?
01:25I see he's not in the lineup today.
01:27Obviously, is he still dealing with that quad situation?
01:30Well, I know the quad had been something that they were trying to manage,
01:33obviously, with the DH games, but maybe a chance day game after a night game.
01:38He looked fine after the game running around
01:40and helping make sure that that double bubble helmet stayed affixed
01:44at the top of Matt Olsen's head.
01:45So I would think that he's probably more fine than not.
01:48But if they feel anything, a little bit nagging,
01:50this is something that goes back to my conversations with Walt Weiss
01:53at the winter meetings.
01:54I'm not going to be afraid to give a guy a day off every now and again
01:57for load management and also kind of rotating players to the DHs they need to
02:01to kind of get them off their feet.
02:03So I haven't heard anything in particular,
02:05and obviously we hope that Michael Harris can continue adding to what has been
02:09a pretty good start to the season for him as well.
02:12Obviously, there's a lot of positives when you start 22-9,
02:16and there's a lot of guys that are responsible for it.
02:19But if you go a little deeper than just this hitter is hitting really well
02:24in this pitcher, some of the depth moves that Alex Anthopoulos made
02:28in the offseason, and with Harris being able to take the day off,
02:31is a good example of that.
02:32What are some of the kind of further down the roster,
02:36maybe it's bullpen stuff, what are some of these moves in your eyes
02:39that are really kind of leading to what the Braves are doing right now?
02:42Well, I think there were a couple of obvious ones in the lineup
02:45when you were looking at what Mauricio Dubon has been doing at shortstop
02:48with Hassan Kim now just starting a rehab assignment,
02:51actually got it going yesterday, could be back in a couple of three weeks.
02:54You knew you had to solve that position with Kim not available.
02:57And then in spring training, you signed Dominic Smith,
03:00I think just trying to feel like we've got some depth in some places.
03:04And I would imagine that Dominic Smith, when he signed that deal,
03:06wanted to try to make the club and was pretty much open to the fact that,
03:10hey, I might be spending some time at AAA, but that has not obviously been the case.
03:14So those are a couple I would point to right away.
03:16Bringing back Tyler Kinley, a pitcher that they grabbed from the Rockies last year,
03:20had an option on him, declined it, then decided to resign him a little bit later
03:23in the offseason has helped.
03:25And then from a depth perspective, I think you've even been able to use
03:28multiple inning relievers at times to help reset your bullpen,
03:32and that's been a huge plus, not to mention your all-star closer goes in the I.L.
03:37Well, you've got another all-star closer who can step in because you signed Robert Suarez
03:40to help out with Raifel Iglesias.
03:43So those are the ones I'd point to immediately.
03:45Things haven't really gone well in left field thus far for Mikey Stremski,
03:48but look, this is a two-year contract.
03:50It's a bad month.
03:51It's not the start he would want, but I still think there's a lot of value to that signing
03:55and that we'll see that at some point, hopefully sooner than later.
03:58But those are probably the ones that I would stack up immediately as the moves
04:02that really help round out this roster.
04:04And they may not have been big names and big moves
04:06and the ones that make all the headlines,
04:08but it has just reinforced this team and this roster to get through this first month.
04:13And now they have a chance to get healthy with guys like Kim and Sean Murphy coming back.
04:18And hopefully at some point we can talk about some of the pitchers led by Spencer Strider
04:22that could be back in the rotation soon.
04:24Is there any plan?
04:26I've got two of them for you.
04:27For the young pitchers, how long do they just stay up while they're pitching well?
04:30With Spencer Strider coming back, is that going to change something?
04:33And does Lopez stay in the bullpen, in your opinion, for the foreseeable future?
04:37For the foreseeable future, yes.
04:38I did ask Walt Weiss about that in particular yesterday.
04:41In fact, my question was, is there a world or a scenario?
04:44I know the pitching is going to be really fluid with some of these other guys,
04:48whether it's J.R. Ritchie and Didier Fuentes in particular.
04:51Martin Perez has pitched well.
04:52There's another one to throw into our depth discussion about guys who've helped out this club.
04:56Is there that scenario where maybe Ronaldo does well in the bullpen,
05:00and that's just kind of a role that he could morph into if he needed him to do that?
05:05And Walt said, I wouldn't be surprised if he does well in the bullpen.
05:08And yesterday, I think he was right about that.
05:10Velocity is not where you wanted to see it, but they still view him as a starting pitcher,
05:14and that's where they want to try to get him back to.
05:15But in the interim, can he do something useful to help the team win?
05:18And I think that is trying to, I think, maybe not play both sides of the coin,
05:23but make a good out of a bad situation if he's mechanically just not where he needed to be
05:29to be able to give those starts to you.
05:30You open up that opportunity to J.R. Ritchie,
05:32and then you can start to align your rotation in a different way
05:37when Spencer Strider comes back this weekend against Colorado.
05:4092-9 the game, Braves insider Grant McCauley joining us here,
05:43talking to Braves as they win in walk-off fashion last night over the Tigers 4-3.
05:47Another series victory, haven't lost a series yet this year.
05:51And you mentioned it, Grant, Strider will start on Sunday.
05:54What are your kind of reasonable expectations,
05:57and maybe there's a number that they've even put on it as far as pitch count goes,
06:01from him on Sunday against the Rockies?
06:03So he got to just over 80 pitches in his third rehab start,
06:06and I was talking about this over the course of his rehab assignment,
06:10just, you know, where will he be in that fourth start?
06:12Because I started looking at the schedule and I saw Denver right there,
06:16and I know that it's got a stigma as not picking a great place to pitch.
06:19The Rockies have been a more competitive team this year,
06:22but I still think it's a decent test for Spencer Strider,
06:25who was in the mid-90s consistently with his fastball with good location,
06:29up to 98 on the rehab assignment,
06:31but also the slider looked crisp as other pitches were working.
06:34So I don't feel like he had anything left to do for a fourth minor league start,
06:38and they decided to go ahead and pull that court
06:40and have him join the team in Denver.
06:42He'll start on Sunday.
06:43So I'd say my reasonable expectations for him
06:45are lines that look a lot like his minor league starts did.
06:49It could be five-plus innings, a couple of hits,
06:51maybe a run or two here or there,
06:53seven, eight strikeouts would be reasonable for me for Spencer Strider.
06:57He's feeling good, threw a bullpen yesterday,
06:59and now the Braves are just looking forward to getting him back in the rotation
07:03and a lot of the work that he did over the course of the winter,
07:06into the spring, the obliques slowed him down,
07:08but improving the shape of his fastball, the way that it moves,
07:12the way that it runs.
07:13And if he's got that kind of fastball,
07:15it's easy to envision Spencer Strider getting back to being the pitcher we saw
07:19pre-surgery more so than the guy who was kind of up and down last year
07:23just trying to find consistency.
07:24What's going on with Austin Ryan?
07:26Obviously, we know the ability that he has,
07:28but coming out of spring you were thinking he's going to have a bounce back
07:32like everybody needs a bounce back here from last year.
07:34But what are you seeing in what's going on with his game so far this season?
07:38I really think it comes down to approach with him
07:40because the bat speed is there.
07:42His strikeout rate, I know he punched out a few times yesterday
07:45because, hey, Tarek Skubal was on the mound.
07:47That kind of stuff happens.
07:48But his strikeout rate is manageable.
07:49His walk rate is good.
07:51His contact just hasn't been launch angle-wise where it needs to be
07:54to lift and drive the ball.
07:56But there's still those moments where, you know,
07:58he yanks a 98-mile-an-hour fastball into the corner for a clutch RBI double.
08:02That also happened on the home stand against the Phillies.
08:04There have been moments.
08:06It's just consistency.
08:07And I talked to him, and it's been about a week,
08:10so, you know, obviously games have happened since then,
08:12but I don't think this has really changed.
08:13He said, I wanted to be patient with my approach.
08:16Then I realized I was maybe letting some opportunities pass me by.
08:20Then I got more aggressive.
08:21And then all of a sudden I kind of got caught in between.
08:23And in the midst of that conversation, he went off for those, you know,
08:27the handful of home runs and that little hot streak that he got on
08:29for about a week or so.
08:31It's just trying to find consistency, Randy.
08:33I think that's as simple as I can put it.
08:36This is a difficult game.
08:37It's a game of failure.
08:38And Austin Riley knows that he's been through it the last couple of years.
08:41Not only has he struggled to find that consistency,
08:43he's also been dealt some injury, you know, hurdles, if you will,
08:48that he's had to clear, but I still think it's in there.
08:51I know it's frustrating.
08:52I know it's not the first impression you want from the season,
08:54but for the Braves to do the things they want to do this year,
08:56I think Austin Riley still has to play a pivotal,
08:59a central role in that.
09:00And I expect him to do that.
09:02Based on the numbers that I've seen from Sean Murphy in his rehab starts,
09:06he looks healthy.
09:08Like he looks like he's pretty much ready to go.
09:10When do you expect to see him with the Braves?
09:12And when he is, would they carry three catchers?
09:15I think they could.
09:17And I had kind of mused about that on the show last week as well,
09:20whether or not they'd want to go that route and whose roster spot does that
09:24cause the obvious.
09:25So you can point at Kyle Farmer, but he's pretty versatile.
09:28You can point at Jorge Mateo,
09:29but it's kind of nice having that backup shortstop.
09:32He's led the AL on stolen bases before and can do a couple of things.
09:35And then I don't think you necessarily want to cut ties with Dominic Smith
09:38either.
09:39So it's an interesting, you know,
09:41calculus that Alex Anthopoulos is going to have to get not just Sean Murphy back,
09:45but in what, two to three weeks, where does Hassan Kim fit in?
09:49And whose spot does he cause?
09:50And ultimately, you know, you can't hold on to all of them.
09:53You've got to make these decisions.
09:54But Murph, that first week or so hit list,
09:57I saw a lot of feedback on social media that Sean Murphy is,
10:00the kids like to say is cooked and the Braves should just move on.
10:04But now in the last three days, he goes, what,
10:07five for 13 with a couple of doubles and his rope and balls,
10:10a hundred plus miles an hour and doing his thing behind the plate.
10:12So yeah, Sean will be back.
10:14He'll do his, I think a lot to take some of the load off of Drake Baldwin,
10:18who has played every game this year.
10:20That's not something you normally say for a primary catcher.
10:22He has been DH-ing a good bit and could do even more of that when you have
10:26Sean Murphy back to help handle the pitching staff.
10:28I think Jonah Haim has been adequate,
10:31but I don't necessarily think that you're going to be upset about the
10:34upgrade that you get with the catcher, the game caller,
10:37the manager of the pitching staff that Sean Murphy is when he comes back,
10:40which could be this weekend or it could be at the first of the week when the
10:43Braves go to Seattle.
10:45Grant, great stuff.
10:46As always, we appreciate it.
10:47Appreciate you, GMAC.
10:49Thanks, guys.
10:49Grant McCauley there, 92.9 The Game Braves insider,
10:52host of From the Diamond every weekend here on the radio station as well.
10:55And, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the argument for Haim,
10:58I think, is that he's been, obviously, he's been backing up Baldwin,
11:02but he also calls a good game and pitchers like him.
11:04And I think some of the, I don't know how many shutouts the Braves have this
11:06year, but most of them have been when he's been catching.
11:10I don't know if that's because of him or if that's just a coincidence,
11:13but that's what Sean Murphy is too.
11:14Sean Murphy is obviously a really good game manager from the catching position,
11:20and also he's much better than Jonah Haim.
11:22And you're paying him more.
11:23And he's being paid more.
11:24Yeah, I think if there was guys that were kind of in utility roles
11:29that weren't doing what they are being asked to do.
11:33Can he play corner outfields?
11:35Who?
11:35Any of them.
11:36No, no.
11:37But Dubon can.
11:38He's out there today.
11:39Obviously, he's not going anywhere.
11:40Yeah, he's out there today.
11:41And you said Mateo's playing shortstop today,
11:43and so obviously you don't want him to go anywhere.
11:46And, you know, Dom Smith just feels like such a nice weapon to have as a pinch hitter.
11:50Because he's going to get another one.
11:51Like, it probably has to be Jonah Haim.
11:53I think in other years that it might have been somebody else.
11:55He got any service time?
11:56Who?
11:56Jonah.
11:57I don't know much about Jonah.
11:58Yeah.
12:00I think Jonah's been in the bigs too long.
12:02Yeah, can we stash him in Gwinnett?
12:04Probably try.
12:04Yeah.
12:05Send him down there.
12:05I don't know.
12:06I don't think anybody's going to snatch him from you.
12:08You never know.
12:09You never know.
12:10You never know, man.
12:10Catches are going down these days.
12:11No, I don't know about that.
12:12But people like to have a battery of them, for sure,
12:15because, you know, load management and all that, like you said.
12:18It is funny, like, having to adjust a little bit to the Walt Weiss flow of a season versus Snit,
12:28where sometimes, because when we see, like, a starter not playing,
12:31the alarm kind of sounds a little bit, right?
12:33It's like, uh-oh, Walt Weiss told us he's going to sit, guys.
12:36Yeah.
12:37He's going to find ways to get Michael Harris a day off, or whoever it might be.
12:40Right.
12:41Not Matt Olson.
12:41Matt Olson will not.
12:42No, Matt Olson will not come out.
12:43But it's just kind of funny, because I think that's just as good of a reason as any
12:50for some of these guys not playing some of these games.
12:53It's like, oh, yeah, Walt Weiss told us who's going to rest him.
12:55Yeah.
12:56So we just have to trust him.
12:57Oh, yeah, because that never happened before.
12:59Guys played, man.
13:00I mean, that was a hallmark of the Snit era, was the Stars played pretty much every day.
13:04They're going to rest him up a little bit.
13:05Keep him fresh.
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