The Braves don’t plan to announce who will pitch in Brandon Beachy’s place on Tuesday against the Mets until after Sunday’s game, but it appears they’re considering giving rookie left-hander Alex Wood a spot start.
Wood, who has spent the past three weeks in the Braves bullpen, took batting practice for the first time Saturday afternoon with the rest of the Braves rotation, an indication he could have his first major league start in the near future.
When asked if the Braves are thinking about Wood to start one of the games of Tuesday’s doubleheader, manager Fredi Gonzalez said: “I’m kind of open. We’re seeing how we get through these next couple days and see what our options are.”
Beachy was scratched from making his highly-anticipated return from Tommy John surgery after feeling elbow soreness during his final minor league rehabilitation start Thursday night.
Wood hasn’t started a game since May 25, when he went seven innings and allowed one run for Double-A Mississippi. He went 4-2 with a 1.26 ERA in 10 Double-A starts this season.
“You could probably get three, four innings, five innings out of him if we had to,” Gonzalez said.
Wood has been a starter all his life, at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, N.C., at the University of Georgia, and this past year in the minor leagues after the Braves drafted him in the second round in 2012. Wood would relish the chance to start.
“They haven’t told me anything, but I’m about to go hit bp, so we’ll see,” said Wood, who said he’d feel comfortable despite the lay-off since his last start. “It’s obviously a little different since it’s been a couple weeks since I started. It’s one of those things where it’s probably easier for me to go out there and start than it is in terms of being back-to-back days and stuff like that at this point.”
Wood has a 3.52 ERA in 7 2/3 innings over six relief appearances since his major league call-up on May 30. He had his rockiest outing yet on Friday night against the Giants, walking three batters and allowing two runs – one of which scored on a balk.
“I honestly can’t even remember the last time I got called for a balk,” said Wood, who said he paused for a “millisecond” as he was coming set. “I guess they call everything up here though, especially when you’re a young guy…It’s one of those things where you’ve got to put it in the past, keep plugging along.”
Wood said he was more frustrated by the walks. He had walked only one batter in his first 6 2/3 innings.
The Braves don’t seem to be an obvious alternative to start Tuesday in Triple-A Gwinnett where prospect Sean Gilmartin is struggling. He is 3-6 with a 5.40 ERA in 12 starts this season and gave up 10 runs (nine earned) in 3 2/3 innings in his last start. And No. 2 prospect J.R. Graham is still in Orlando, rehabbing from a shoulder strain.
The Mets are pitching rookie phenom Matt Harvey in the first game of the split-doubleheader, and Smyrna native Zack Wheeler is scheduled to make his debut in the second game. Wheeler was a first round draft pick of the Giants in 2009 out of East Paulding High school. He was traded to the Mets for Carlos Beltran in July of 2011.
