Braves option Forrest Wall, promote Lucas Williams

How’s this for moves of little consequence that are also hard to explain:

Forrest Wall had a double in four PAs, his first major league hit, while largely serving as a late-inning pinch-runner. He once stole second and third base in a close-and-late situation, and was also thrown out with the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning in Boston a few days later. He will return to a 93 wRC+ in 356 PAs at Gwinnett.

The Braves claimed Lucas (Luke) Williams from the Dodgers off waivers on June 5. He has a 90ish wRC+ in Triple-A this year, and is also the holder of a 67 wRC+ and 0.3 fWAR in 254 career major league PAs, having played in the majors in each of the last three seasons. He’s generally rated well defensively everywhere except shortstop, but we are talking a very small sample size. Braves fans probably remember Williams best for an out-of-nowhere two-run game-winning homer off Will Smith during the 2021 season, which remains one of Williams’ two career homers to date.

Earlier today, the Braves recalled Vaughn Grissom to Atlanta given the shelving of Ozzie Albies with a hamstring issue.

As to why the Braves are swapping Wall for Williams, your guess is as good as mine. It gives the Braves a right-handed bench bat under the presumption that Grissom will be starting and Nicky Lopez will ride the bench, is I suppose the real reason.