Come Tuesday, Major League Baseball teams will receive two extra roster spots for September. The decision on who the Atlanta Braves will promote appears to have been made.
Right-hander Blake Burkhalter and infielder Kyle Farmer are expected to be added to the active roster, per source. For Burkhalter, this would mark an awaited call-up to the majors. Should he take the mound, it would be his major league debut.
Shortly after Atlanta Braves on SI received word of this upcoming move, The Athletic's Jess Cano reported that Burkhalter had a locker in the Braves clubhouse. MLB.com's Mark Bowman reported as well that Farmer is already in Atlanta as well.
This is the expected plan at this time. Of course, due to the chaotic nature of the game, things can always change, even in the course of a day.
Burkhalter is the No. 15 prospect in the team's system. After spending most of his tume in the system as a starting pitcher, he's been a reliever to solid success this season. In 16 appearances with Triple-A Gwinnett, he has a 1.48 ERA and 0.78 WHIP.
Two of his notable pitchers are his fastball and cutter. Both are graded a 55 on the 20-to-80 scale, indicating they are above-average pitches.
He can serve in a long-relief role as well. He's pitched two innings or more times on seven occasions in Triple-A. He's rarely come in for just a couple of outs, so it's unlikely that's the type of role he will be used in unless needed.
Farmer originally made the Braves' roster out of spring training alongside Dominic Smith . While Smith has stuck around all season, Farmer battled a strained right forearm for nearly three months before being released by the team. He was re-signed to a minor league deal and has been playing for Gwinnett.
In the small MLB sample size, he went 4-for-15 (.267) with one extra-base hit, no walks and three RBIs. His stats in Triple-A have been simular with a .256 average, a .562 OPS, no extra-base hits and seven RBIs across 24 games.
While in the minors, he's seen action at shortstop, third base and designated hitter.
September call-ups used to permit the entire 40-man roster to be called up, but this changed back in 2020. Since then, the active roster went from 25 to 26 players for most of the season with an expansion to 28 players in Septemeber.
This change came in as part of some sweeping changes that included the three-batter minimum and the 13-pitcher limit that were implemented for active rosters.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/braves/onsi as Braves Pitching Prospect, Kyle Farmer Expected to be September Call-Ups .
