LAKELAND, Fla. — This week, Brian Snitker and other coaches called AJ Smith-Shawver into the office and told him the club was optioning him.
He didn’t win the fifth starter job, which was a disappointment for the top prospect.
“It obviously isn’t a dream scenario for anybody, but it’s part of it,” Smith-Shawver said Friday. “You gotta take it and keep working. It’s just an excuse to work harder.”
But the meeting also was encouraging because of what the coaches told Smith-Shawver.
“Just that I’ve made strides, and I still gotta keep getting better,” he said of their message. “I’ll get my chance up there if I just keep throwing well.”
This probably is the correct outlook for Smith-Shawver’s time in big-league camp. Did he hope to make the opening-day roster? Of course. But he’s still 21 years old. He resumed pitching full-time only a few years ago.
In that way, he actually might be ahead of the curve in his development.
This is encouraging.
“Yeah, no doubt,” Smith-Shawver said. “I understand that I’m in a good position right now. I’m happy where I am. I just gotta keep working. Just focusing on me and making sure that I’m getting better. If that happens, then I think I’m in a good spot. I know I’m in a good spot now. We have a great organization, we got great guys around me. I’m just excited for the future.”
And there’s this: The Braves likely will use at least 10 different starting pitchers this season. They regularly build in off-days for their rotation members, and they almost always need spot starters. And you never wish for injuries, but they occur.
As the coaches told Smith-Shawver, he’ll be up at some point if he performs well. If he continues to develop, it’s easy to envision him as part of the Braves’ future in the rotation.
Friday’s start in Lakeland versus the Tigers showed one area that Smith-Shawver must attack. He got guys to two strikes, but couldn’t finish them. He allowed five runs on eight hits over three innings.
“I feel like I just gotta keep going out there and competing with my stuff, whatever I have that day, learn how to pitch with certain (levels of) stuff,” he said. “Some days you’re not gonna have everything, so just kind of going out there and being able to grind and get outs is important for me.”
Smith-Shawver, who fires an upper-90s four-seam fastball, must continue developing his slider, curveball and change-up. Friday gave him another learning experience.
“My thought process is just try not to get too high or too low with each outing,” Smith-Shawver said. “Just kind of take it day by day and just kind of keep getting better day in, day out, take things from outings. Just kind of get that experience that I need.”
A loaded Lakeland lineup
At around 4 p.m. Friday, Apple’s navigation app said it would take around two and a half hours to go from CoolToday Park in North Port to Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. It’s an estimated 107 miles between both places.
Not surprisingly, the Braves often don’t send many regulars to Lakeland.
The fans Friday saw a lot of them, though.
Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, Orlando Arcia and Jarred Kelenic all traveled to play the Tigers. How did that happen?
“I begged,” Snitker joked.
In all seriousness, Snitker said the schedule worked out this way. Had these guys not made the trip, they would’ve had two off-days in a row. (They didn’t play Thursday.)
“I asked all of these guys, and not a guy I asked had a problem with coming over here and playing,” Snitker said. “They all wanted to.”
That’s pretty cool, especially from a team full of All-Stars. And Snitker gave another neat example of how easy it is to manage this group.
He said: “I sat Ronald (Acuña Jr.) down before we started games – because I like to get a schedule out and have an idea of where we’re gonna go with them. And he’s like, ‘I don’t even care. I’ll play anywhere you want me to go. I’m gonna play.’”
The Braves lost Friday’s game 6-1.
Duvall reports to North Port
The newest Brave – well, kind of – reported to North Port on Friday.
Adam Duvall is back for his third stint with the club. He arrived at the CoolToday Park facility Friday. Snitker said the Braves don’t yet know when Duvall will appear in spring games.
