Saturday seeds: Strider doesn't think he needs a rehab start; Mock Draft season is here

Here's some of the news and notes you might have missed from this week

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Strider might be back sooner than expected

Injured starter Spencer Strider’s rehab from a hamstring strain is progressing quickly, and the team is discussing potentially skipping a rehab start and returning him straight to the major league roster when he’s ready to return.

According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Strider threw a bullpen on Wednesday and told the media that he was never shut down from throwing while rehabilitating the hamstring. “We were able to keep throwing throughout this process, which was good. I made some modifications. I was just throwing from a knee and different things. With the pulse monitor, that band I wear, it’s very easy to monitor workload and handle things like that. It was good to keep the floor high. I think that’ll make the next part of the process a lot easier.”

(For more info on the workload monitor that Strider wears, check out this great article from the AJC’s Justin Toscano: What is the black band on Spencer Strider’s arm? How a workload monitor helps him)

Strider’s next bullpen is scheduled for today in Pittsburgh, and the hurler reported on Thursday that as far as he’s concerned, he’s good to be activated. “I, for better or worse, feel ready to go,” Strider told the media at Truist Park on Thursday. “It’s probably fortunate that it’s not in my hands entirely. We’re [going to] throw a bullpen on Saturday in Pittsburgh and kind of make a decision from there as to what we do next. Having kept throwing, I think that makes things a little bit easier to map out. [We have to] take it day by day. I’ve been instructed that that’s the right thing to do.”

Going off the schedule for bullpens, Strider throwing on Wednesday and Saturday could line him up to start at home next week against the Nationals, if the Braves want to activate him without a rehab start.

Mock draft season is here

With the MLB Draft just two short months away (and in Atlanta, no less), it’s time for all of the mock drafts to start getting serious.

A new one dropped this week, from the fine folks over at MLB Pipeline. They’ve got the Braves taking RHP J.B. Middleton out of Southern Mississippi. At the time of publication, he was the D1 leader in ERA at 1.86 on the strength of a potent fastball/slider/changeup trio.

I’ve noticed a trend, though. Back in April, both the Baseball America mock draft (trying to predict what teams would do) and the Staff Draft (what they’d personally do if they were running that specific team) had the Braves taking prep shortstops, with Joseph Parker out of Mississippi and Daniel Pierce out of Hoschton, GA being the choices.

Think about where we were in early April - Orlando Arcia was splitting time with Nick Allen, and neither player was standing out that much. A month later and Allen looks firmly entrenched as the starting shortstop, leading the majors in defense at the position and appearing to be at least capable of hitting his weight at the plate. It makes sense that the newest mock draft would go back to the college pitching well for an organization that prefers to draft its arms and sign its hitters as IFAs.

If the Braves do go for a shortstop, there’s an open debate as to whether it should be a collegiate option instead of a prepster. Sure, the final ceiling might be a bit lower, but the lower minors are already full of IFA shortstops like John Gil and Ambioris Tavarez. Let’s find someone on a different timeline that won’t be sharing time with any of those options, unless it’s a prep option that’s young for the level and needs to start in rookie ball next year instead of at a full-season affiliate.

As soon as Baseball America updates their mock draft for May, I’ll go ahead and launch the mock draft tracker to start following the picks throughout the coming weeks leading into July’s selections.

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A monster of a home run

The Braves finally added to their meager collection of corner infielders in last year’s draft, taking Oregon State first baseman Mason Guerra in the 14th round with pick #431 overall.

He spent about ten days on the injured list in mid-April with an undisclosed issue, but he’s back and I think he’s fully healthy.

On Friday night, playing for Single-A Augusta, Guerra hit an absolute moonshot homer over the apartment building overlooking left field.

Despite the wonderful camera work, we don’t know exactly how far it went but using the location of the videoboard and Google Maps, we can estimate: 415 feet.

It’s the second professional homer for Guerra, a first baseman in a system without many power options in the infield corners. More homers like this and he’s destined to be on a fast track for Rome.

More Baldwin pinch-hit opportunities?

The Atlanta Braves made a minor roster move on Friday morning, designating Eddie Rosario for assignment and using his roster spot to bring utilityman Luke Williams back to the majors.

This is ostensibly being made for defensive flexibility and baserunning reasons - now that Eli White’s the primary rightfielder, Williams can be the utility glove as well as provide another pinch-running option.

But there’s one more benefit to having Williams on the roster over Rosario: He can serve as the emergency catcher. He’s never officially played there in the majors, but while with the Phillies in 2021, Williams was reportedly their emergency catcher in case of injury.

Some managers, Brian Snitker included, are sometimes reluctant to send their primary catcher out to pinch-hit in a game where the backup is already starting - were an injury to happen, both catchers would be out of the game.

Williams being added gives you someone who has played every single position on the field outside of catcher, but also someone who has strapped it on a few times and can at least finish a game behind the plate should injuries strike. I’d expect Drake Baldwin to be more available than he already is off the bench as a pinch-hitter, and Murphy to be able to grab a bat on days he isn’t starting.