Pro sports roster decisions are often made without a lot of thought to timing. That’s how you get things like players released or traded on their birthdays. But perhaps an even stranger case of timing came Sunday, when the Atlanta Braves designated Charlie Culberson for assignment.
Atlanta called veteran infielder Culberson up from Triple-A Gwinnett back in May. But the 34-year-old hadn’t yet gotten into a game for them this season, and they opted to send him down Sunday. That move was to make room to call up catcher Chadwick Tromp after Sean Murphy suffered a hamstring injury Saturday, and that makes sense. However, Culberson’s father was flying in for Sunday’s game, and was set to throw out the first pitch for Father’s Day. That honor will now go to another team parent.
Charlie Culberson's dad was scheduled to throw today's first pitch. Michael Harris II's dad will now take this honor on Father's Day.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 18, 2023
And that sparked a lot of comment:
Honestly, if a player's dad is flying out to throw the first pitch on Father's Day, I think it's a case in which you should hold off a day before releasing the player, or at least still let him throw out the first pitch!
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) June 18, 2023
You could at least let Culberson's dad still throw out the first pitch. I mean even if it wasn't just polite, Culberson was still a significant role player on the 2018/2019 Braves.
It's not like his son's release means he's no longe ra dad.
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) June 18, 2023
We couldn’t wait one more day to release him or get another catcher ? So he could have this moment with his family and dad?
— Matthew (@mbru911) June 18, 2023
https://twitter.com/MWBII/status/1670469842028179456
Charlie Culbersons dad would have played in more games than Charlie Culberson did this year https://t.co/YHEv8amNcI
— 🏳️🌈 chickenpuppet.bsky.social 🏳️🌈 (@chknpuppetmk5) June 18, 2023
Culberson was drafted in the supplemental first round (51st overall) by the San Francisco Giants out of high school back in 2007. He made his MLB debut for them in 2012, but was traded midseason to the Colorado Rockies for Marco Scutaro (who wound up as the NLCS MVP en route to the Giants’ World Series victory) and cash considerations. He then played for the Rockies in 2013 and 2014, but missed much of 2015 due to injury.
Culberson signed a minor-league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that November, then made major league appearances for them in 2016 and 2017. He was then sent to Atlanta as part of the Matt Kemp trade in December 2017, and appeared in a career-high 113 MLB games for the Braves that year, recording 322 plate appearances. He then appeared in 108 games for them the following season, but with only 144 plate appearances, then spent most of 2020 in the minors.
The Texas Rangers signed Culberson ahead of the 2021 season, and he played for them in 2021 and 2022, but again spent most of his time in the minors. He then signed a minor-league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays this spring, was cut, and signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta. And given that he hadn’t gotten into a game in the month he was up at the major league level, and seemed to be there mostly as depth and a clubhouse presence, he was a logical guy to move to make way for Tromp. (The Braves opted not to put Murphy on the injured list until they know how severe his injury is.) And, unlike some other moves this year, this doesn’t appear to have been connected to the first pitch setup, or to anything off the field. But it’s unfortunate that this happened in a way that messed up Culberson’s dad throwing out the first pitch on Father’s Day.
[Mark Bowman on Twitter, Baseball Reference; photo of Culberson in 2020 from John David Mercer/USA Today Sports]
