The Daily Chop: Jesse Chavez starting Tuesday, Freddie Freeman and more

Following Monday’s 11-4 win over the Diamondbacks, Brian Snitker disclosed the Atlanta Braves’ pitching plan for Tuesday. Snitker told reporters that Jesse Chavez will get the start for Atlanta in what will essentially be a bullpen game. Snitker said that both Touki Toussaint and Drew Smyly will be available out of the bullpen.

Toussaint’s recent struggles necessitated Atlanta to rethink the fifth starter spot. Smyly held down a spot in the rotation for most of the season with varying degrees of success. He experienced a bit of a velocity drop at the end of last month and hasn’t started a game since August 30. Smyly has since made three relief appearances. The Braves will need the fifth starter again on Sunday in San Diego.

More Braves news

• The Braves scored seven runs in the fifth inning Monday night capped off by a monstrous home run from Adam Duvall to defeat the Diamondbacks 11-4. Atlanta’s lead in the NL East is back to three games after the Phillies were shutout by the Orioles.
• Freddie Freeman rarely takes a day off and a recent story by Yahoo sports’ Hannah Keyser highlights how he pressures his teammates to do the same. While you always want your best players to expect to be in the lineup every day, there is merit in getting rest over a 162 game season. The Braves as an organization would do well to take a page from how the Giants have handled their roster and build a stronger bench for 2022 to make it easier to rest some of your key players, whether they want it or not.

MLB News

• Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit his 46th home run of the season Monday passing Johnny Bench for the most home runs in a season by a catcher.
• White Sox starter Carlos Rodon left Monday’s start with a sore shoulder and there is growing concern about his health heading into the postseason.
• Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that Major League Baseball will require all players to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to participate in this year’s Arizona Fall League.
• Here is a feel good story. The Indians called up lefty Anthony Gose Monday and he made his first appearance since 2016 when he was an outfielder for the Tigers. Gose lit up the radar gun showing off a 100+ mph fastball.
• The Yankees activated Luis Severino from the injured list Monday. Severino will be making his return after missing nearly two years of action following Tommy John surgery. He is expected to work out of the bullpen.