Atlanta Braves news and links: Folty is starting to come into his own

BRAVES NEWS

Tuesday’s game gets rained out

We don’t have a Braves result to share with you this morning since yesterday’s game got rained out. The game will be made up in late September as part of a doubleheader, and Julio Teheran will still pitch tomorrow’s game in what is now a two-game series.

d’Arnaud gets DFA’d and Adams gets called up

THe Braves still made a roster move during what turned out to be another off day. Chase d’Arnaud has been designated for assignment, and his replacement is Lane Adams, who hasn’t been seen at the major league level since getting a cup of coffee with the Royals back in 2014.

Folty is beginning to come into his own

Going into this season, Mike Foltynewicz was a popular choice as a candidate for a breakout season. He may have had a rough start, but his past two starts have been evidence of the potential that Folty still has a great chance to realize. Tommy Stokke of FanRag wrote at length about Folty’s solid performances this season.

General manager John Coppolella, who swung the deal for Foltynewicz by sending Evan Gattis to the Houston Astros, ultimately wants the best version of Foltynewicz — however that comes.

“If he’s mad and angry and going off the rails but he’s throwing shutouts, I’m all good,” Coppolella said this spring. “If he’s nice and happy and soft and he’s getting hit around, I am not good.

“It isn’t really a key for me because I think he’s made progress. People go about it different ways. I’m not saying it’s right or it’s wrong, it’s just something where we want Mike to be the best pitcher he can be. We really like who Mike Foltynewicz is, we love the talent, we love the person. We think he’s got a huge upside.”

Vizcaino considers Braves franchise to be his home

Despite the forgettable appearance that he made on Sunday against the Phillies, Arodys Vizcaino is still developing into a solid reliever with a decent amount of potential left in him. He’s also had a very interesting path to the big leagues, and Meghan Mitchell of Fox Sports South outlined part of the journey that Viz has gone on and how he hopes Atlanta can be a long-term home for him.

Continuing with setbacks, Vizcaíno’s 2012 season with the Braves would be cut short as underwent Tommy Johns surgery on March 20 and was later traded to the Chicago Cubs in July of the same year. After surgery in his elbow in 2013, which required him to miss out on the remainder of the season, Vizcaíno was called back to the major leagues in September 2014 for the Cubs. He played in five games for the Cubs before once again being traded on Nov. 16, 2014.

This time, however, Vizcaíno found himself in a familiar place: Atlanta.

“When I came back in 2015 I already knew the majority of the team, and I felt like I was at home again,” Vizcaíno said. “Now this team is my second family. You know, I wouldn’t mind staying here for the rest of my career.”

What player profile are the Braves looking for in this year’s draft?

Meanwhile, the MLB Draft is right around the corner and we’re starting to get you all ready for it with a series of previews. Yesterday, Matt took a look at what player profiles the Braves may be looking at in the draft, and he also gave an update on the players that the franchise could be considering to take at pick number five overall in the this year’s draft.

MLB NEWS

Coghlan flies over Yadi to help Toronto beat St. Louis

The Blue Jays beat the Cardinals 6-5 yesterday, and the biggest moment in that victory came when Chris Coghlan refused to take “No” for an answer and decided that instead of getting tagged by Yadier Molina near home plate, he would go over Molina for the run. It was wild!

Thames continues to hit dingers and also keeps getting drug tested

In other news, Eric Thames is now up to 11 home runs this month as he continued to lay waste to Cincinnati’s pitching.

That’s the shocking part. What isn’t shocking is the fact that some fans have reacted to Thames’ power surge upon returning from Korea’s baseball league with accusations of PED usage. MLB is apparently keeping a close eye on him as well, as he underwent his second drug test of the season after last night’s game.

Thames was drug tested once again after the game. It’s the second test he’s been told to take postgame in a little more than a week — he was also tested in Chicago last Monday, after making John Lackey scratch his head with an opposite field home run at Wrigley Field. Unlike the first test, which was reportedly just a urine test, the latest one took both a urine and a blood sample, which is used to test for human growth hormone.

As McCalvy and Tom Haudricourt note, since every player is tested in Spring Training, this is the third test Thames has taken this year. So far, none have come back positive.