Sending down Gattis no longer an option
NEW YORK — As expected, catcher Brian McCann was back in the Braves lineup for Friday's series opener against the Mets, and veteran backup Gerald Laird was penciled in to catch Julio Teheran's start Sunday.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez wouldn’t divulge catching plans for Saturday, but said rookie slugger Evan Gattis and McCann would fill the catching and designated hitter positions for two interleague games Monday and Tuesday at Toronto.
“One will catch and one will DH (at Toronto),” said Gonzalez, who hadn’t decided or wasn’t ready to say who would fill which role in each of those two games.
For now, the Braves are carrying three catchers and six relief pitchers — one more catcher and one fewer reliever than they’ve traditionally carried. Gonzalez said he wanted to go with six relievers at least through the Toronto interleague series, so he could use both McCann and Gattis in those games.
If the Braves drop a position player after Tuesday, it seems unlikely it’ll be a catcher. Because Gonzalez made it clear it wouldn’t be Gattis, whose 10 home runs in 121 at-bats included three big homers during the six-game homestand that ended Wednesday.
“We’re not going to do that,” Gonzalez said of sending Gattis to the minors. He joked: “Before we do that, I’ll go down.”
