Bryce Elder is about to make his 2024 MLB season, as the Atlanta Braves have called up the pitcher from Triple-A Gwinnett, the team announced via X (formerly Twitter).
The #Braves today recalled RHP Bryce Elder to Atlanta. The club optioned RHP Darius Vines to Triple-A Gwinnett following last night’s game.
Elder is expected to start for the Braves game against the Miami Marlins this Monday night to start a three-game series at home. To accommodate Elder, Atlanta sent Darius Vines back to the minors after a pair of starts this April. That includes the 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday to close out a series at home, with Vines allowing four earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work.
“(Elder) was scheduled to start on Sunday for Gwinnett, and they got rained out,” Atlanta skipper Brian Snitker said (h/t CBS Sports). “So we're going to bring him up.”
Atlanta has not lost a series to the Marlins since 2014, so a great start with Elder on the mound would be a boost for the Braves' chances of keeping that decade-old streak alive. Although he has yet to pitch in the majors in the big leagues in 2024, Elder made three starts this year with the Gwinnett Stripers. He went 2-0 with a 3.31 ERA and 1.163 WHIP through 16.1 innings in those appearances.
Elder's return to the Braves also comes amid a brutal season-ending injury to Spencer Strider, who was diagnosed with a damaged UCL in his right elbow after a start versus the Arizona Diamondbacks on Apr. 5. The 24-year-old Elder did not make the final cut for the fifth-starter of the team entering the 2024 MLB season, a role that went to Reynaldo Lopez. But as it turned out, the Braves would need him back in rotation because of Strider's injury. Elder would have loved to be back in the rotation because of much better circumstances and not due to a teammate getting injured, but it's back to business in the majors for him.
Elder is coming off an All-Star campaign in the 2023 MLB season. That year, he went 12-4 with a 3.81 ERA, 4.27 FIP, and a 1.268 WHIP
So far in the 2024 MLB campaign, the Braves are just 25th in the big leagues with a starters ERA of 4.85 and 21st with a starters fWAR of 1,2
Braves look to get back on track amid Phillies, Mets rise
The loss to the Rangers was just the Braves' first defeat in some time. Before that, Atlanta had stitched together a six-game win streak, a stretch that included a three-game sweep on the road of the reigning American League champions Houston Astros.
The Braves enter Monday still on top of the National League East division with a 14-6 record, but that's only a game better than the Philadelphia Phillies, who are on a six-game undefeated run and 2.5 in front of the 12-9 New York Mets, who, like the Phillies, have won eight of their last 10 outings.
With Elder toeing the rubber to start the series versus the Marlins, the Braves will have someone very familiar with Miami. Elder carries a 1-2 record along with a 3.38 ERA through seven career starts against the Marlins. In 2023, he went 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts in the matchup. He will also be backed by Atlanta's offense that is second overall in MLB with 125 runs scored and No. 1 with a .828 OPS.
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