Evan

Gattis

Gattis is at Game 1 of the World Series in Houston, where he will catch the ceremonial first pitch from former teammate Brian McCann. He spoke to Mark Berman of FOX 26: “I don’t even know if I could play, but right now I don’t want to,” said the 33-year-old. "[Baseball] was a huge part of my life, but I was ready. ... If I really want to play, I’ll go play, whether it be in Double-A, Triple-A or the big leagues. But it has been such a big transition.” Gattis sat out all of 2019 after slashing .226/.284/.452 with 25 home runs and 78 RBI over 128 games with the Astros in 2018. He spent six years in Major League Baseball, mostly as a catcher and DH.

The 32-year-old slugger had a down year offensively while spending most of his time as the Astros’ designated hitter, slashing .226/.284/.452 with 25 long balls and 78 RBI in 451 plate appearances. Unless a team has plans of sticking him back behind the plate, he’ll be limited to American League only teams that are on the hunt for one-dimensional power types to slot in at designated hitter.

White finished with a poor September, but he’s getting the call in the DH spot over Evan Gattis in Game 1. Marwin Gonzalez is in left field and Martin Maldonado will catch Justin Verlander. The Astros’ full lineup is as follows: George Springer CF, Jose Altuve 2B, Alex Bregman 3B, Yuli Gurriel 1B, Gonzalez LF, Carlos Correa SS, White DH, Josh Reddick RF, Maldonado C.

Gattis reached safely in all four of his plate appearances in this one. He delivered an RBI single off Angels starter Tyler Skaggs in the first inning, walked in the third, smacked an RBI single in the fifth and notched an infield hit in the seventh. The 32-year-old slugger is hitting .232/.288/.466 with 49 runs scored, 25 homers, 77 RBI and one steal in 434 plate appearances.

Gattis had has very limited opportunities of late to try to hit his way into the Astros’ plans for October. The start tonight was just his second in 10 days, and he’s only 3-for-24 in September. At this point, it’s unclear if he’ll be on the postseason roster at all.

He’ll take a seat with the day game after the night game. Evan Gattis, who hit a game-tying homer on Tuesday, will start behind the dish.

Gattis had two homers off the bench since his previous start on May 14. He has 10 homers in just 122 at-bats on the season. It’s hard for the Braves to find playing time for him with Brian McCann and Jason Heyward back, but they have to do a better job than this of mixing him in.

It was another pinch-hit home run and it sent the game to extra innings. Gattis still has a weak .302 on-base percentage and doesn’t play enough anymore to carry relevance in mixed fantasy leagues, but he should remain a dangerous bat off the Atlanta bench all year.

In the two games he has played, Upton is hitless in six at-bats, striking out five times. The outfielder’s batting line has sunk to an embarrassing .146/.232/.247, and the Braves are giving him extra time off to work on his swing. He’s sure to turn things around eventually, but for now expect Evan Gattis and Jordan Schafer to continue eating into his playing time.

It appears to just be a day off. Evan Gattis is starting for the second time in the last three games even though the Dodgers are sending a right-hander (Matthew Magill) to the mound.