The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gohara to get chance in starting rotation
Left-hander’s rise from minors means Sims takes stint in bullpen.
The ever-evolving and youthful Braves rotation will be a six-man unit for now, with Luiz Gohara moving in and fellow rookie Lucas Sims moving out.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Gohara, a left-handed prospect called up from Triple-A to start against the Rangers on Tuesday night, will stay in the rotation and make his next turn Sept. 12 in a series opener at Washington.
Tuesday’s game was postponed
by rain, and Gohara will make his major league debut today in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Max Fried, who pitched five strong innings for the win Sunday
against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in his first major league start and fifth appearance, will make his second start Saturday against the Marlins at SunTrust Park.
“Right now the plan is for Fried to start on Saturday, and that puts Lucas in the bullpen for a while and pitch him out of there,” Snitker said. “Putting Lucas in the bullpen, I think that’ll be good for him to experience that, too, just like Max Fried did when he first came up.
“Because going forward next year, we don’t know where these guys might fit. We look at them all as starters, but it’s a situation where if we can better our team by having one of the young guys in the bullpen pitching out of there and getting experience, then that’s the way we’re going to go.”
Gohara, 21, is the youngest of the four Braves to make their first major league starts this season, including three left-handers. He began the season in high Single-A after coming to the Braves from the Mariners along with lefty relief prospect Thomas Burrows in a January trade for outfielder Mallex Smith and reliever Shae Simmons.
Sims, 23, made his major league debut Aug. 1 and is 2-5 with a 5.97 ERA in seven starts. Fried, also 23, debuted Aug. 8 and pitched four times in relief before his first start.
The other rookie in the rotation, Sean Newcomb, made his debut June 10 — two days before his 24th birthday — and is 2-8 with a 4.31 ERA in 15 starts.
“There’s nothing set in stone,” Snitker said. “We have the latitude and the freedom to adjust as we go. It’s actually not a bad situation to be in that we have some starting options to finish out the year and can see some young guys. Lucas has had seven or eight starts since he came up, and let these guys get a few starts also.”
For now the Braves will go with a rotation of Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, 42-year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and rookie lefties Newcomb, Fried and Gohara.
Gohara, who features a mid-90 mph fastball and outstanding slider, was 7-4 with a 2.62 ERA in 26 games (25 starts) across three minor league levels this season and had 147 strikeouts with 44 walks in 123⅔ innings.
He came in at No. 76 in Baseball America’s updated Top 100 prospects list at midseason. Gohara was rated the Mariners’ No. 3 prospect after the 2016 season.
Gohara went 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in seven starts at high-A Florida to begin his first year in the Braves organization. After a promotion to Double-A Mississippi, he was 2-1 with a 2.60 ERA in 12 games (11 starts), with 60 strikeouts and 18 walks in 52 innings.
That earned another bump to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he went 2-2 with a 3.31 ERA in seven starts and had 48 strikeouts with 16 walks in 35⅓ innings.
There have been some questions about Gohara’s maturity and conditioning, but none whatsoever about his major talent and “live arm.”