NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
There were many reasons for the Braves to put off calling up top prospect Dansby Swanson.
Swanson is 22. He was hitting .261 in 84 games at Class AA (Pearl) Mississippi and never played in Class AAA. He wasn’t on the 40-man major league roster and wouldn’t need to be added this offseason if he stayed in the minors. Calling him up now means added service time toward arbitration and free agent eligibility.
But the Braves decided it was important to see him play in the big leagues and begin deciding if he can become their full-time shortstop next season.
“We don’t expect him to come up here and be the savior,” club President John Hart said. “But we feel like this is an opportunity to take a good look and get him some experience up here in the big leagues.”
Swanson, the first overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, came to the Braves in the Shelby Miller trade last offseason. The Braves also traded for Erick Aybar as a placeholder until Swanson or Ozzie
Albies (now playing second base at Class AA) was ready to take over.
The day before they called up Swanson, the Braves traded Aybar to the Detroit Tigers. uThe Braves sent right-hander
Tyrell Jenkins to Class AAA Gwinnett (Ga.), continuing a season-long rotation shuffle. They have used 14 starting pitchers.
Miami Marlins
When the Marlins put outfielder Giancarlo Stanton on the disabled list because of a Grade 3 groin strain, the immediate word was that he likely was done for the season.
A week later, they were expressing hope he could return. “He’s going to be back,” said
Michael Hill, president of baseball operations. “He told me he’s going to be back. He’s going to help this team get into October and help us get through October.”
Stanton will need significant help from teammates to do that. Even if he does return, he likely won’t play until late September.
The Marlins have played well in Stanton’s absences this season. Through Sunday, they were 15-10 in games he didn’t start compared to 50-49 when he was in the lineup.
uCloser A.J. Ramos returned from the disabled list, but manager Don Mattingly didn’t immediately return him to his ninth-inning role. Mattingly had Ramos set up Fernando Rodney, who converted seven consecutive save opportunities and allowed one run in nine innings in Ramos’ absence.
New York Mets
The Mets lineup got healthier when both outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and infielder Asdru
bal Cabrera came off the disabled list Friday, but the rotation took another hit when Steven
Matz went on the disabled list because of left shoulder discomfort, retroactive to Aug. 15.
Matz, who has been pitching with a bone spur in his left elbow, felt the discomfort a few days after he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres. Matz threw 105 pitches in that game, five days after he threw a career-high 120 in six innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Matz described the shoulder problem as a twinge and said he didn’t think it was serious.
Even a short absence from the rotation is a problem for the Mets, who already lost Matt Harvey for the season and learned Zack
Wheeler won’t pitch for them this year as he continues a long recovery from Tommy John elbow surgery.
The five pitchers who began the season in the rotation combined for a 3.28 ERA through Sunday, and the Mets were 59-51 when one of them started a game. They
were 3-11 when starting anyone else, and those pitchers combined for a 6.31 ERA.
uOutfielder Jay Bruce hit .169 with two home runs and six RBI in his first 19 games with the Mets after coming over in a deadline deal with the Cincinnati Reds. He had 25 homers and 80 RBI in 97 games for the Reds.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies will keep their fingers crossed that rest and treatment will allow 23-year-old righthander Aaron Nola to return healthy next spring.
Nola’s 2016 season is over after surgeon James Andrews diagnosed a low-grade ligament sprain and a low-grade tendon strain in his right elbow.
What Andrews hasn’t done, at least for now, is recommend surgery that would jeopardize Nola’s 2017 season. Instead, Nola got a platelet-rich plasma injection and was told to rest for four weeks.
Nola, once considered among the best pitching prospects in the game, had a 4.78 ERA in 20 starts with 121 strikeouts and 29 walks in 111 innings.
uPhillies starting pitchers went 21 games without completing seven innings before Jeremy
Hellickson did it Saturday.
Washington Nationals
It didn’t get the attention of a long hitting streak, but Jayson
Werth’s 46-game on-base streak, which ended Friday, tied Rusty Staub’s franchise record and made a nice run at George Van Haltren’s National League record of 60.
Ted Williams has the major league record, 84 games. Joey Votto’s 48-game streak last year was the only one longer in the majors since 2007.
“As we go down the stretch here, we’ve got something pretty cool we can accomplish,” Werth said. “I don’t want anything — any individual stuff — taking away from that.” uRight-hander Stephen Strasburg is on the disabled list for the second time this season, the fourth time in the last two years and the seventh time in his seven-year career. This time it’s his right elbow, which he said has been sore since the All-Star break.
uLeft-hander Sean Burnett, who pitched for the Nationals from 2009 to 2012 and was with them in spring training, was reacquired from the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations and sent to Class AAA Syracuse (N.Y.).