Former Guardians fan favorite still has key role on MLB-best Braves

Carlos Carrasco’s MLB career has been a winding list of twists and turns in the time since the Guardians designated him for assignment at the end of the 2024 season. 

After a short stint with the New York Yankees at the beginning of last season, Carrasco ended up appearing in three games with an Atlanta Braves that was playing out the string of a disastrous season. 

But that three game stint seems to have set up an important role on this year’s iteration of the Braves. While Carrasco has only appeared in two games with the Braves this season (and been DFA’d twice), he signed another minor league deal with the Braves on Friday. 

While he elected free agency after his latest DFA, it seems like that was largely a formality so he could ink another minor league contract with Atlanta. 

Carlos Carrasco seems comfortable yo-yoing between MLB and minors with the Braves

Carrasco clearly seems comfortable with this kind of yo-yoing considering this is the third time he’s signed a minor league deal with the Braves since the end of last season. He’s working a bit as a “hired gun” in that he’s only going to be called up when the Braves need an additional arm. 

His first call-up of the season came on April 22 so he could serve as insurance behind rookie JR Ritchie, and his second call-up came two weeks later right after he cleared waivers from his first DFA. 

He’s managed to throw 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the Braves in that time while also tallying a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings at Triple-A. That’s a far cry from the 7.09 ERA he recorded in MLB last season. 

Although this role is clearly a far cry from when he was a top-of-the-rotation ace with Cleveland, it’s clearly a role that he enjoys that also allows for him to still make a big league impact. 

The Braves are no stranger to this kind of partnership. Not only did they spend the past four seasons shuttling reliever Jesse Sanchez up and down from Triple-A, they also did this dance with Martín Pérez earlier this year and he’s turned into a valuable part of their starting rotation (2.38 ERA in 34 innings). 

Carrasco likely won’t end up making that big of an impact, but Pérez’s ascent into the rotation proves the Braves will ride a hot hand if needed. 

And that system has largely worked for Atlanta this season, as they entered play on Friday tied for the best record in MLB (26-12). 

It looked like Carrasco was cooked after his disastrous tenure with Atlanta last season, but he’s found new life thanks to this unconventional role. That alone should put a smile on every Guardians’ fan's face.

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