The Braves trimmed three familiar names from their Triple-A roster yesterday, moving on from Andrew McCutchen, Austin Gomber and Ben Gamel, according to the transaction log at MiLB.com. All three are now free agents and eligible to sign with any club, with the possibility of landing new minor league jobs as teams look for extra depth after the deadline.
McCutchen is the headliner. The 39-year-old outfielder and designated hitter signed a minor league contract with the Rangers over the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but his time in Texas didn’t last long.
He hit just .192/.277/.260 in 83 plate appearances before getting released. His peak years are long past, but McCutchen did give Pittsburgh league-average offense from 2024-25, and the Braves got a more productive stretch from him in Gwinnett, where he went 10-for-30 with three doubles and a homer in 32 plate appearances, good for a .333/.375/.533 line.
That kind of production could still make him useful for a club that wants help against lefties.
Gomber’s path has been quieter, but he’s another experienced arm now back on the market. The 32-year-old left-hander has not pitched in the majors this season, which marks the first time since 2019 he hasn’t appeared in a big league game.
He also came to the Braves after signing a minor league deal with Texas and being let go there first. His results with the Rangers’ top affiliate were rough - a 7.75 ERA in 32 2/3 innings - but he was better in Gwinnett, where he logged 48 2/3 innings with a 4.81 ERA, a 16.7% strikeout rate and a 6.9% walk rate.
Over four seasons with the Rockies, Gomber delivered the kind of numbers teams often associate with a back-end starter: a 5.08 ERA, 17.7 K% and 6.7 BB% across 544 innings.
Gamel, meanwhile, brings more than six years of service time and a long track record as a usable depth bat. He hasn’t been in the majors since 2024, and his career line sits at .252/.334/.381 with splits that have been pretty even against left-handers and right-handers.
He doesn’t draw a ton of walks and he’s not known for his defense, but his ability to put the ball in play and avoid complete offensive black holes has kept him around as a roughly league-average hitter despite limited power. This season in Triple-A, though, he struggled badly, hitting only .210/.333/.328 while striking out nearly 32% of the time in 225 plate appearances.
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Braves Just Made A Telling Call On A Former MVP Bat
Andrew McCutchens brief stay in the Braves organization is over. Atlanta released the veteran outfielder from his minor league contract after he joined the club in July following his own release from the Texas Rangers, and his opportunities in Triple-A Gwinnett never really got much traction.
The move was part of a broader roster reset that also sent left-hander Austin Gomber and outfielder Ben Gamel out the door. For a Braves team constantly sorting through depth and looking for the right mix, the decisions underscore how quickly those fringe spots can change when the clock starts ticking on the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]