The Braves announced that outfielder Eli White has been reinstated from the ten-day injured list. Fellow outfielder José Azócar has been designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.
Azócar, 30, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason. He was added to the roster in May when Ronald Acuña Jr. hit the injured list. A few days later, they decided to promote infielder Jim Jarvis and move Mauricio Dubón to the outfield mix. Since Azócar is out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man. After clearing waivers, he quickly re-signed and then got added back to the roster in the wake of White hitting the IL.
Around those transactions, Azócar has put up good numbers. He has a .333/.375/.467 slash line but he surely wasn’t going to maintain that kind of production. He put up that line in a tiny sample of 16 plate appearances with a huge .417 batting average on balls in play. That’s nowhere near his career track record, which consists of 434 plate appearances with a .248/.293/.325 slash line.
Broadly speaking, Azócar is a glove-first depth outfielder. He gets good reviews for his defense and can steal a base from time to time but his offense has mostly been subpar. Atlanta clearly still views him that way and hasn’t been swayed by a few extra batted balls finding holes in the past few weeks.
Azócar now heads to DFA limbo again. Atlanta can take some time to explore trade interest but it’s possible he ends up back on waivers and clears, like he did a few weeks back, though it’s also possible a team with some recent injury trouble has a need for an extra outfielder and puts in a claim. If Azócar does clear again, he has the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. That’s the way things played out earlier this month but Atlanta quickly re-signed him to a new minors deal.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
