Braves option catcher Evan Gattis to triple-A

Early in the 2013 season, there was a nationwide craze surrounding the theatrics of Atlanta Braves catcher Evan Gattis. On Friday night, however, he was relegated to the minor leagues.

In fairness to Gattis, the decision by Atlanta to move him to the minor leagues was likely a procedural one more than anything else. With rosters set to expand on September 1st, the team is probably moving him to give him additional at-bats in an attempt to work out of a prolonged slump.

Gattis is hitting just .200 over his last 107 plate appearances, and the early-season momentum (and power) seems to have evaporated. For the year, the 27-year-old catcher does have 15 home runs in under 300 plate appearances, and that is extremely valuable from the backup catcher position. The fact that he was likely playing above his head to begin the season (as Brian McCann sat on the disabled list) raised expectations a bit, but Gattis has provided 1.0 fWAR this season, and that’s a steal at the amount of money he is paid.

Long-term, the Braves need Gattis as their primary right-handed bench bat when the playoffs arrive, and with the team sitting with the best record in all of baseball, they can afford to be cautious in presenting him with every opportunity to fix a flawed swing.