It took one at-bat for the Atlanta Braves to send Scott Schebler down.
After only one plate appearance for the Atlanta Braves, down goes Scott Schebler to Triple-A.
Atlanta had a rare off-day in the midst of the 60-game MLB season. After being designated for assignment by the team he’s best associated with in the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta traded for the power-hitting outfielder in exchange for cash with Cincinnati. After one game with the Braves, Atlanta designated him for assignment, he went unclaimed and now he’s in AAA Gwinnett.
What are the odds Scott Schebler makes a triumphant return to the Braves?
Because Schebler was sent down to the alternate training site in Gwinnett, he would be eligible to return to the Braves at any point after being designated for assignment by the big league ball club. It’s been a rough last two years for Schebler. After hitting 30 home runs in 2017, he has hit 19 since. Schebler was battling his way back from labrum surgery that ended his 2019 season.
The move to acquire Schebler was strange for the Braves. Atlanta has had plenty of injuries up to this point, as the Braves have power all throughout the batting order, as well as depth defensively in the outfield and at the corner infield spots. The acquisition by general manager Alex Anthopoulos may have been to take advantage of Cincinnati DFA-ing him and nothing more.
While Atlanta hovers a few games over .500, the Braves need to figure out what they’re doing with the starting rotation. After left-hander Max Fried, it gets bad really fast for the Braves. So perhaps the trade with the Reds for Schebler was done to acquire a potential trade asset or leave someone else available to be traded to help bolster Atlanta’s increasingly terrible starting rotation.
We have seen Anthopoulos make one big trade after another in his short tenure as the main man in the Braves front office. He rebuilt a shaky bullpen on the fly last MLB trade deadline, as he acquired Shane Greene, Chris Martin and Mark Melancon to help in Atlanta’s postseason push. It didn’t result in an NLDS series victory, but all three remain in Atlanta uniform in 2020.
Even though he got sent down, we may not have seen the last of Schebler playing for the Braves.