Braves promote Sean Newcomb to majors

The Braves have called up left-handed prospect Sean Newcomb to the club, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Newcomb will make his MLB debut on Saturday in the club’s first game of their doubleheader against the Mets.

A first-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2014, the 23-year-old Newcomb has been excelling in the Braves’ farm system since being traded to them as part of the Andrelton Simmons deal prior to the 2016 campaign. He led the Double-A Southern League in strikeouts in his first season with 152.

This year at Triple-A Gwinnett, Newcomb has gone 3-3 with a 2.97 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 57 ²⁄₃ innings across 11 starts. He was scheduled to start on Wednesday for Gwinnett, but the team decided to put Andrew Albers in his place.

Newcomb is ranked ninth among lefty prospects in all of baseball and ranked 70th in baseball’s Top 100 prospects, according to MLBPipeline.com. Newcomb’s promotion comes on the heels of veteran Bartolo Colon going on the 10-day disabled list with a left oblique strain.

The Braves hope they can get a boost from Newcomb now and for the future. They are currently second in the NL East, but they are 24-32 and their staff has a 4.66 ERA, which is the sixth worst in the majors. However, the Braves are in the middle of a rebuild and they have seven prospects — four of whom are pitchers — who are ranked in the Top 100 in all of baseball.