Major League Baseball announced Wednesday afternoon that it has approved the Braves’ request to scratch right-hander Huascar Ynoa from the team’s roster for the NLCS against the Dodgers. Lefty reliever Dylan Lee has been added in his place.
Ynoa had been slated to open Wednesday night’s bullpen game, but he was diagnosed with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. MLB must approve any injury-related substitution from a team’s playoff roster in the middle of a series, and the league quickly granted the Braves' request to remove Ynoa in favor of Lee. Players scratched mid-series are ineligible to participate for the remainder of the current series as well as the next series should the club advance. Ynoa is thus officially done for the season, as he’d be ineligible to return even if the Braves make the World Series. Jesse Chavez will open tonight instead.
This season, the 23-year-old Ynoa tossed 91 innings of 4.05 ERA ball, starting 17 of his 18 outings. He missed a couple of months during the middle of the year after fracturing his hand when he punched the dugout after a bad start. It was surely frustrating for the Braves to lose one of their more promising starters for a while in that manner. Still, the team has to be impressed with Ynoa’s performance, as he posted solid strikeout (26.9%), walk (6.7%) and ground-ball (47.3%) rates.
Lee is a 27-year-old rookie who earned a late-season call with an elite showing at Triple-A Gwinnett. He has only two big league innings under his belt, but Lee tossed 46 2/3 frames of 1.54 ERA ball with the Stripers this year.
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