KEVIN MCALPIN
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – Mother Nature sure knows how to rain on parades, doesn’t she? Last night, Braves fans were counting down the hours until first pitch of the series finale with the Nationals. But, the weather had other ideas. With Wednesday night’s rainout, and tonight’s scheduled off day, fans will have to wait until at least 7pm Friday night to see the Braves top prospect make his much anticipated Major League debut. The 21 year old Pache was in Atlanta’s lineup last night, getting the nod in left field, batting ninth.

As for how the team moves forward in the rotation is a much different story. Max Fried, the ace of the Braves staff, will start Friday night’s series opener at Truist Park against the rival Phillies. We’ll also see Robbie Erlin and Josh Tomlin both get another start on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. But, the schedule actually works out in a major favor to a Braves rotation that has had many moving parts in the first three and a half weeks of the regular season. With a days off tonight, Monday and next Thursday, the club will reach the Trade Deadline needing just four starters. Max Fried will, no doubt, be kept on his normal schedule every five days. There’s also a chance we could continue to see Erlin and Tomlin, with the fourth spot in the rotation being left to guys like Touki Toussaint, Kyle Wright or even possibly Huascar Ynoa.

And yes, I do expect the club to be active and add at least one veteran starter to the rotation to help get them over the hump. While it’s possible to survive in the short term with a young and inexperienced rotation, if the team wants to advance beyond the first round in October, it will be imperative to add at least one more reliable, veteran arm to the mix.

Kevin McAlpin has covered the Braves since 2012 for @680TheFan and the @BravesRadioNet