Brian Snitker confirms Kyle Wright for Game 2, still undecided on starter for Game 3

The Atlanta Braves released their roster for the NLDS Tuesday morning and the biggest looming question was answered as Spencer Strider was among 12 pitchers that will be carried for the series.

Snitker confirmed that the Braves will go with Kyle Wright in Game 2 Wednesday. The team is still undecided on who will start Game 3 in Philadelphia Friday. Snitker said that they were keeping their options open for Game 3.

“We’re not leaning any way, we’re going to wait and see,” Snitker said. “There’s options there. Charlie will be ready, but we’re still in conversations about Strider, how we’re going to use him. He’s going to throw a light bullpen today. But I think starting the next few days we’re not 100 percent sure how we’re going to proceed there.”

Strider ended the regular season on the injured list due to a sore oblique. The Braves took extra precautions with him and he started to ramp back up in recent days.

“Everything is good. Right now he’s feeling really good,” Brian Snitker said of Strider. He’s going to go out, throw a light bullpen today and so then we’ll kind of formulate and see how we’re going to use him.”

Asked to elaborate, Snitker confirmed that Strider would not be in the bullpen for Game 1 after throwing a bullpen session.

“We won’t use him today because of that,” Snitker said.

Tuesday’s Game 1 received an afternoon start time of 1:07 pm. The Braves have struggled somewhat in day games, but Snitker doesn’t think that the early start time will be a detriment. The team has been holding early workouts in the lead up to Tuesday’s game.

“We’ve been working out early. I’m glad we did now,” Snitker said of the early start. “I bumped the workouts early really not even knowing when we would play but figuring we would probably have one of these first two slots. We even bumped it back a little, an hour earlier, yesterday, just in preparation for they’ve been getting to bed early and having the evenings. So this will be better than playing a 7:20 game and a 1:30 game that we normally do on a Saturday/Sunday.”

More NLDS Roster notes

The Braves elected to carry 12 pitchers, one less than the maximum allowed for the NLDS. Jake Odorizzi is among that group and said that he is on the roster to provide length if needed. One pitcher who is not on the roster is 2021 postseason hero Tyler Matzek. Snitker said that Matzek had some elbow discomfort after his last appearance in Miami.

“He felt some elbow discomfort after the last outing in Miami. And he’s in Texas right now being evaluated,” Snitker said.

Matzek appeared in 42 games this season and posted a 3.50 ERA albeit with a 4.49 FIP in 43 2/3 innings. However, his strikeout rate dropped from 29.2% in 2021 to 19.6% this season and he never looked right. He spent a lengthy stint on the injured list with a shoulder problem, but had a 4.76 ERA and a 5.50 FIP over his last 10 appearances.