Braves send struggling Schafer to minors

The Braves gave Jordan Schafer two months to fight his way out of a slump and prove he could compete in the major leagues. But as June begins, the Braves are evaluating what they have to change to be contenders, and sending Schafer to Triple-A Gwinnett was the first step.

The Braves recalled center fielder Gregor Blanco and sent Schafer down to see if he can work out his problems there.

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Jordan Schafer was hitting .204 with 63 strikeouts, the fourth-most in the major leagues, for the Braves.

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“You’ve played two months of the season, you have a pretty good feel for your team — where your strengths are and what you need to do,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “… I thought it was best for not only our club, but for Jordan to go back out and get some more work.”

Schafer, 22, homered in his first major-league at-bat in Philadelphia and hit two in the season-opening series, but he hasn’t been the same sense. He’s hitting .204 with 63 strikeouts, the fourth-most in the major leagues.

In 27 games since May 2, Schafer has hit .151 with a .231 on-base percentage and a .172 slugging percentage.

“He’s still going to be a real good player, but he’s got to go down and relax a little bit and get his hitting skills going again,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said.

Schafer was a highly touted prospect who skipped the AAA level. He impressed the Braves with a dominant performance in spring training — this after rebounding from a 50-game suspension last season for being linked to the use of HGH.

He beat out Josh Anderson for the center-field job this spring, and the Braves traded the more experienced center fielder to Detroit because he was out of options.

“It’s a difficult part of the job, trying to figure out when kids are ready and how they’ll handle it once they get up here,” Wren said. “And it’s different for every kid.”

Schafer will report to Rochester on Wednesday, where the Gwinnett Braves are playing on the road.

Schafer was told of the move Tuesday afternoon and had a chance to say goodbye to teammates such as Chipper Jones, who has been tutoring Schafer on hitting in recent weeks.

“I think going down to AAA and working on things in a less pressurized situation will probably be good for him,” Jones said. “Looking back, hindsight is 20-20, but I probably would have rather him start the season off in AAA, but the kid played his tail off in spring training. He made this team. His work ethic is second to none. He’s a good kid. He just needs a little more seasoning.

“He was a little overmatched here at the beginning, but I don’t foresee that being a long-term problem.”

The Braves aren’t putting a timetable on when he might return.

“I’ve always said that the players will tell you when they’re ready,” Wren said. “Their performance on the field and the type of at-bats they’re having and all those things will tell you when a guy’s ready. We’re going to continue to watch and observe.”

Given their outfielders’ problems producing runs, they’re open to pursuing other center fielders in a trade. Or they could trade struggling right fielder Jeff Francoeur, who has drawn interest from the Red Sox, according to a report.

Braves outfielders were hitting only .243 entering Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cubs, which ranks 13th out of 16 National League teams. Their 65 runs and eight home runs were worst in the majors, and their 60 RBIs ranked 29th out of 30 teams.

“We’re open to considering anything,” Wren said. “We’re looking for ways to improve our club. As we get deeper into the season, we’re just now getting over the threshold of when clubs will seriously engage.”