Braves promote top prospect Pache

ATLANTA -- The Braves promoted top prospect Cristian Pache to the Majors after learning veteran outfielder Nick Markakis was potentially exposed to COVID-19.

It was a hectic Tuesday for the Braves, who informed Pache of his promotion at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET. The reason for this last-minute promotion was revealed around an hour later, when the team announced the news about Markakis, who has tested negative. But out of an abundance of caution, he was placed on the injured list. There is not a maximum or minimum stay for players because of a COVID-19-related issue.

“It’s just going to be day to day for now,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I don’t really have an understanding of it. I know he was exposed, and as a caution he is not here.”

With both Markakis and Ronald Acuña Jr. on the IL, the Braves had to call upon Pache, who ranks as MLB Pipeline’s No. 14 overall prospect.

Anticipation about Pache’s potential promotion had grown over the past few weeks. The 21-year-old is the team’s center fielder of the future. The team’s current center fielder, Ender Inciarte, entered Tuesday hitting .186 with a -0.3 fWAR (FanGraphs’ WAR Model), which ranked 41st out of 45 National League outfielders with at least 50 plate appearances.

Pache has been training at the team’s alternate training site, which is approximately 40 minutes from Truist Park. He arrived about 50 minutes before Tuesday’s first pitch, so the Braves did not want to rush his pregame preparations just to get him into the lineup.

But Snitker indicated Pache will be in the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals.

“I may play him tomorrow just to get him out there,” Snitker said. “He’s a young guy coming up. He can defend, and we’ve seen he’s a threat [offensively]. I’m seriously thinking about running him out there and letting him play.”

There has been a lot of excitement surrounding Pache going back to Spring Training 2018, when Andruw Jones said the young player was already the best defensive outfielder in the entire organization. That included Inciarte who, at the time, had won two of his three consecutive Gold Glove Awards.

Pache also showed some increased power potential before the 2018 season and ended that exhibition season by hitting a pair of homers against Sean Newcomb during a game that pitted Braves prospects against big leaguers at Truist Park.

The two-homer game was a springboard toward what proved to be a breakout season for Pache, who combined to hit nine homers while playing for Class A Advanced Florida and Double-A Mississippi. He knocked 11 more homers in 104 games for Mississippi last summer and then added one more while producing a .747 OPS over 105 plate appearances for Triple-A Gwinnett.

“He’s pretty special out there,” Braves veteran pitcher Josh Tomlin said. “The dude can flat-out go get it. He’s a special talent. It’s like he’s moving before the ball is even hit. That’s the kind of reads and jumps he can get on baseballs.”