Braves Place Ben Sheets On Disabled List; Recall Veteran Miguel Batista

The Atlanta Braves placed starting pitcher Ben Sheets on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. The move follows another bad outing in which Sheets' velocity was down.

To replace Sheets on the roster, and bolster a taxed bullpen, the Braves recalled veteran right-handed pitcher Miguel Batista from Gwinnett. Batista was signed by Atlanta last month after he was released by the Mets. He appeared in 30 games this year for New York, including making 5 starts. Batista made four starts for Gwinnett, appearing in 6 games in total.

Batista was pitching pretty effectively in Gwinnett, only suffering one rough outing early this month. He's stretched out, so he will be able to pitch in long relief if needed. I'm not sure if he'll be better than Livan Hernandez was early in the year, but I find it hard to believe he could be much worse. Reports are that he was throwing his fastball up to 95mph out of the bullpen last week.

He's a veteran, and he's also 41 years old, so there's just no telling what to expect. Atlanta will be Batista's 11th Major League team in his 18 year career.

With Sheets to the disabled list this likely marks the end of the six-man rotation experiment in Atlanta. While the team hasn't done much winning in the six-man, that's mainly because of the team's lack of offense.

Sheets' injury is more of a rest-and-rehab type of injury rather than an actual injury, but he does need to strengthen his shoulder and increase his velocity to return to effectiveness. Hopefully he can have the time to do that and return to the help the Braves in September.