The Braves kept adding to their pitching depth Monday, bringing in veteran left-hander Brent Suter from the Los Angeles Angels as the deadline clock ticked down.
Atlanta sent infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. to the Angels in the deal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. It comes on the heels of the Braves’ earlier move for Tyler Mahle in a trade with the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, giving president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos another arm to work with as he tries to fortify a staff that has been hit hard by injuries.
Suter, 36, arrives with a 4.12 ERA and 55 strikeouts across 63 1/3 innings. The surface numbers are ordinary, but the underlying profile helps explain why Atlanta wanted him. He ranks in the 94th percentile in hard-hit rate this season, per Baseball Savant, and even without overpowering swing-and-miss stuff, he has been effective at keeping the ball on the ground, sitting in the 81st percentile there.
That kind of profile fits a Braves team looking for help over the final two months and, potentially, in October.
For Alvarez, the change of scenery comes after a difficult season in Atlanta. The 23-year-old right-handed hitter put up a .216 batting average, .277 on-base percentage, .298 slugging percentage and .576 OPS in 240 plate appearances. Injuries have been part of the story as well, and he last appeared for Triple-A Gwinnett on May 20.
Anthopoulos may still have more to do, but for now Atlanta has chosen to keep building around the edges, one bullpen piece at a time.
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