The Braves reinstated Luiz Gohara from the 10-day disabled list after his injury-rehab start Friday for Triple-A Gwinnett, then promptly optioned the rookie left-hander to Gwinnett.
The move was expected. Gohara has struggled in rehab starts and the Braves had earlier indicated a likely return in May after he had enough time to rebuild stamina and pitch command following his injury-plagued spring training.
Coming back from a sprained ankle, Gohara had exhausted the maximum time on his rehab assignment, thus the move to option and keep him in Triple-A.
He was (0-2, 4.76 ERA) in three rehab starts including one at Double-A Mississippi and two at Gwinnett.
“He’s not ready,” Snitker said. “It’s spring training for him, pretty much. He got way behind, so he’s just going to need to keep pitching. And it’s one of those situations where a guy like that, he’ll let you know when he’s ready (by his performance). If we don’t need him then it’s good that he can stay down there and get everything together.”
Gohara gave up seven hits and six runs (four earned) in four innings Friday against Durham and had three walks with four strikeouts.
“Just rusty, I think,” Snitker said.
Gohara, a stocky 21-year-old, impressed in five September starts for Atlanta and was the No. 23 prospect in Baseball America’s preseason Top 100.
He didn’t pitch in any Grapefruit League games this spring and in his rehab starts he allowed 14 hits, six earned runs and six walks with 12 strikeouts in 11-1/3 innings.
The best of the three rehab starts was an April 22 game against Pawtucket in which he allowed two hits and one earned run with no walks and four strikeouts in four innings. In his other two outings he allowed three walks in each along with 12 hits in a combined 7-1/3 innings.
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