MILWAUKEE — Mike Buchter is a New Jersey guy. South Jersey, just across the river from Philadelphia. Owns a janitorial company, been a fan of Philly sports teams all his life.
But these days his allegiance is to the Braves, and he gets asked a lot about why he’s wearing a Braves cap around town or the Braves jacket he wore while frequently clearing snow off his driveway this winter.
Not that he minded answering every time he was asked. He loved it, actually. His son Ryan was a Braves minor league relief pitcher, he’d tell them. Only now he can’t tell them that anymore. Because Ryan Buchter is a major leaguer now.
He suited up for his first major league game Monday, which also happened to Mike Buchter’s birthday.
“My fiancée texted him this morning and said, ‘Happy birthday,’ you couldn’t have a better one,” Ryan Buchter said, smiling in the visitor’s clubhouse Monday morning at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
Buchter, 27, officially became a major leaguer when he was named to the 25-man opening day roster — only five days after the big left-hander was sent to Triple-A. When reliever Cory Gearrin injured his elbow, it opened a spot for Buchter, who had been one of the last cuts from the spring training roster.
“The past couple of days have been a rollercoaster,” he said. “You’re going down (to the minors) and getting acclimated down there… You’re kind of bummed out for a couple of days. And you still have to keep a clean head while you’re down there, because like everybody kept saying, you never know what’s going to happen.”
When Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez went to a minor league intrasquad game Thursday to see a couple of Braves pitchers, the last day the team was at spring training in Florida, he chatted briefly with Buchter. Gearrin had left a game two days earlier with an elbow injury, the severity of which wasn’t known at the time. It turned out to be ligament damage, and Gearrin is getting a second opinion before deciding whether to have surgery.
“Fredi was down to see Woody and Gus (Schlosser) throw and he just said, ‘You never know what’s going to happen.’ Just kind of threw it out there. And then a day later I was driving up to Atlanta.”
Buchter spent eight seasons in the minors with the Nationals, Cubs and Braves organizations without every getting a major league callup. He was added to the Braves’ 40-man roster over the winter, after posted a 2.76 ERA with 103 strikeouts (and 51 walks) in 62 relief innings at Triple-A Gwinnett.
He had 12 strikeouts and six walks in 8-2/3 innings this spring, allowing seven hits and five runs in 10 appearances. But he also made progress during camp.
“I worked with (the pitching coaches), not even on mechanics, just mindset and a lot of things, speeding up my tempo and just trying not to think so much, just letting my arm work,” he said. “ hat’s kind of when I turned the corner in camp was when I started throwing more strikes because I was picking up (the pace). All my pitches started getting better because of tempo.”
First opening day: Buchter and fellow relievers Gus Schlosser and lefty Ian Thomas all had their first day in a major league uniform Monday, and were also the only three on the Braves' 25-man roster to have never suited up for opening day in the big leagues.
Both Schlosser and Thomas debuted in the seventh inning, and Schlosser had a particularly impressive showing, facing four batters and recording five outs.
Thomas debuted by coming in to start the seventh to face two left-handed batters, getting a leadoff groundout by Lyle Overbay before Scooter Gennett singled through the right side of the infield. Schlosser entered the game at that point, and the sidearmer induced an inning-ending double play grounder by pinch-hitter Rickie Weeks.
Schlosser stayed in to pitch a perfect eighth inning, including a strikeout of Carlos Gomez to start the inning.
The three rookie relievers are part of an eight-man bullpen the Braves are using until they add starter Ervin Santana, probably on April 12, at which point the team will revert to its usual five starters and seven relievers.
Gonzalez said closer Craig Kimbrel already told him the veteran relievers planned to purchase two more Little Pink Pony backpacks so all three rookies would have one to wear to the bullpen before each game. That’s become a Braves bullpen tradition, making a rookie reliever wear that little kids’ accessory.
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