The Braves have placed 20-year old lefty starting RF Jason Heyward on the 15-day disabled list with a deep bone bruise in his left thumb. Heyward has played in 71 games this season for the Braves and he is 64 of 255 (.251 avg, .821 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 11 homers, 45 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Despite whiffing 68 times already this season Heyward is not a hacker at the plate as he has also walked 42 times this year. The Braves have activated 31-year old righty swinging outfielder Matt Diaz off the D.L. to replace Heyward. Diaz has played in 26 games for the Braves this year and he is 13 of 73 (.178 avg, .477 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Diaz is a career .300+ hitter in his major league career so I look for him to step up soon for the Braves.

35-year old righty starting pitcher is having no luck at all so far this season. He has started 15 games for the Braves this season (who are 44-32) and he is 1-9 with a 4.48 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Kawakami is 1-9 despite having a lower ERA than Tommy Hanson who is 7-5 on the season so far. Kawakami has now pitched in 47 games (40 starts) in his two years with the Braves and he is 8-21 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Kawakami might get bumped to the bullpen when Jair Jurrjens soon returns from the D.L. and he really doesn’t deserve that fate.

C David Ross, infielders Omar Infante & Brooks Conrad and outfielder Eric Hinske have each been a big part of the Braves’ succes this season. They have given starting players a rest without Bobby Cox having to worry about much, if any, drop in production at the plate. Hinske has been providing a lot of punch filling in at the corner outfield spots for the Braves this year. He has played in 57 games for the Braves this year and he is 40 of 130 (.308 avg, .923 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 5 homers and 25 RBIs. Omar Infante can play any position on the infield except 1B and he can also handle CF in a pinch. He has also been thumping the baseball whenever his name is on the lineup card. He has played in 46 games for the Braves this year and he is 43 of 138 (.312 avg, .733 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer, 16 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Brooks Conrad has really provided a power stick at 3B whenever Chipper Jones needs a day off. He has played in 44 games for the Braves this year and he is 14 of 55 (.255 avg, .814 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 3 homers, 12 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. David Ross continues to produce behind Brian McCann at catcher. He has played in 25 games for the Braves this season and he is 17 of 58 (.293 avg, .794 OPS) with 8 runs scored and 15 RBIs. The bench has been a key to the recent success of the Braves and they hope this gang keeps up the good work.

The Braves have placed 27-year old righty reliever Chris Resop on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle. Resop made his season debut against the Rays last night and it didn’t work out too well. Resop gave up 5 hits and 5 earned runs in only 2 innings last night. The Braves called Resop up because he had an out clause in his contract and he was dominating in AAA. Resop has started 13 games in AAA-ball this year and he was 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He has only given up 46 hits in the minors in 73 1/3 innings while whiffing 81 batters. The Braves have recalled 26-year old righty reliever Jesse Chavez to replace Resop in the pen. Chavez has pitched in 18 games (0 starts) for the Braves already this season and he is 0-1 with a 7.33 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. He has given up 5 homers in only 23 1/3 innings this season but he has 22 whiffs showing that he does have decent stuff. Chavez will have to pitch better this time around or he will be back in the minors before he knows it.

The Braves have signed 27-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Anderson to a minor league deal. Anderson has played in 34 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 17 of 89 (.191 avg, .453 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. He has played in 179 games in his three years in the majors in which he is 132 of 486 (.272 avg, .665 OPS) with 73 runs scored, 4 homers, 47 RBIs and 36 stolen bases. The Braves obviously remembered how well that Anderson played for them in 2008 which is likely why they signed him. Anderson played in 40 games for the Braves in 2008 and he was 40 of 136 (.294 avg, .764 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 3 homers, 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. It never hurts to stash a guy like Anderson in AAA so I like this signing for the Braves.

33-year old righty swinging catcher David Ross is turning into one of the better backup catchers in baseball. He has played in 24 games for the Braves this year and he is 17 of 57 (.298 avg, .806 OPS) with 8 runs scored and 15 RBIs. Ross has also walked 11 times while whiffing 10 times this season so far showing a much improved eye at the plate. Ross has now played in 78 games in his two years with the Braves and he is 52 of 185 (.281 avg, .863 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 7 homers and 35 RBIs. With Ross playing so well for the Braves again this year they don’t get worried when Brian McCann needs a day off.

26-year old righty reliever Jesse Chavez might be running out of time in Atlanta based on his pitching so far this year. He has pitched in 18 games (0 starts) for the Braves this year and he is 0-1 with a 7.33 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. He has given up a stunning 5 homers in only 23 1/3 innings so far this season for the Braves. With Jair Jurrjens getting close to returning to the Braves Chavez needs to pick up the pace or he is going to be pitching in AAA soon.

The Braves have placed starting CF Nate McLouth on the 15-day disabled list with concussion like symptoms. McLouth has played in 57 games so far this season for the Braves and he is 30 for 170 (.176 avg, .577 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 3 homers, 14 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Switch hitting Melky Cabrera will take over as the starting CF full time with McLouth out of action. He has played in 58 games this season for the Braves and he is 43 of 173 (.249 avg, .634 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He should do a good job while McLouth is out of action. The Braves have recalled 23-year old lefty swinging outfielder Jordan Schafer to replace McLouth on the active roster. Schafer has played in 31 games in A+AA+AAA-ball this year and he is 30 of 128 (.234 avg, .603 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 7 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Schafer got his first taste of the majors last season with the Braves playing in 50 games in which he was 34 of 167 (.204 avg, .600 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 2 homers, 8 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Braves hope that Schafer is better this time around as he looked overmatched by major league pitching last season as he whiffed a stunning 63 times!

Righty knuckleballer Phil Niekro baffled hitters for 21 years for the Atlanta Braves. He was a All-Star 4 times with the Braves, he won 5 Gold Gloves and he won at least 20 games twice. Niekro pitched in 740 games (595 starts) in 21 years with the Braves and he was 268-230 with 29 saves, a 3.20 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Niekro is #1 in games pitched (740) in Braves’ history. He is also #2 in games started (595), #3 in wins (268), #2 in innings pitched (4,622 1/3), #2 in strikeouts (2,912), tied for 5th in complete games (226) and he is #3 in shut outs (43) in Braves’ history. Niekro was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1997.

The Braves have lost 24-year old righty reliever/starter James Parr for the year due to Tommy John Surgery. Parr pitched in 8 games (0 starts) for the Braves this year and he was 0-0 with a 5.79 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. In parts of two years with the Braves, Parr has pitched in 13 games (5 starts) in which he is 1-0 with a 5.20 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. The Braves hope that Parr might be able to help them sometime in the second half of the 2011 season.