The Braves announced that they have selected right-hander to the major league roster. Fellow righty has been designated for a signment as the corresponding move. The moves are seemingly a response to the clubs pitching staff getting heavily used early on. Atlanta is starting the year with seven straight games and lost the first five. On Sunday, started and only lasted four innings. The club lost on the Ryan Weathers Jersey road, meaning the bullpen only had to cover four additional frames, but swingman to sed three of them. Reliever also to sed an inning and was designated for a signment afterwards. Ahead of yesterdays game, the club selected Chavez to take the place of Neris. Yesterdays starter also lasted just four innings. Losing on the road again, the bullpen needed to cover another four frames. and each covered one. Chavez took two, throwing 41 pitches in the proce s. The club didnt use any of , , or in the past two days but the rest of the group got a lot of work, particularly the multi-inning options. They also had to recall to start tomorrows game when landed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. Surely, the club will be hoping for a good outing from tonight, but hell be facing a tough Dodger lineup. Whether its after Sale tonight or after Elder tomorrow, Thompson might be needed to cover some long relief innings before the clubs much-needed off-day on Thursday. Thompson, 31, has some major league experience under his belt. He debuted with the Marlins in 2021 and posted a 3.24 earned run average, working both in the rotation and the bullpen. Prior to 2022, he was traded to the Pirates for but his ERA jumped to 5.18 with Pittsburgh that year. He hasnt been in the majors since then. The Bucs designated him for a signment and flipped him to the Blue Jays ahead of the 2023 season. The latter club kept him in the minors that year, where Thompson posted a 4.61 ERA in 24 Triple-A starts. He was outrighted off Torontos 40-man during that season and elected free agency at seasons end. He required flexor tendon surgery in October of that year and mi sed all of 2024 while recovering. That led to a minor league deal with Atlanta a few months ago. He to sed nine innings over two spring appearances, allowing one earned run with five strikeouts and three walks. Hell give the club another multi-inning arm for now, though the need for such a player could di sipate fairly quickly. As mentioned, they have an off-day on Thursday. They will have another on Monday, giving them some more breathing room. could be reinstated from the IL in the next week or two and Lpez could potentially be back in the mix if his i sue proves to be minor. Thompson still has options and could potentially be sent to the minors while hanging onto his 40-man spot. As for Chavez, he always seems to find his way back to Atlanta, even he gets pulled away from time to time. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this winter but was released when he wasnt going to crack the Opening Day roster. That led to a minor league deal with Atlanta. Their tough start to the season meant they needed to quickly call him up. But after he to sed those two frames and 41 pitches last night, he was probably going to be unavailable for a day or two, so hes been hastily bumped off as well. Though hes now 41 years old, Chavez has remained effective. From the start of 2021 to the present, he has a 2.93 ERA in 203 innings pitched. That includes a 24.3% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 42.4% ground ball rate. Hell now be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week. The waiver proce s takes 48 hours, so any potential trade talks would have to happen in the next five days. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright a signment, so hed likely end up in free agency if he goes unclaimed on waivers. It wouldnt be a surprise to see him back with Atlanta after that but hes also been with the Pirates, Royals, Blue Jays, Athletics, Dodgers, Angels, Rangers and Cubs in his career. Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports Eli Villalobos Jersey