ATLANTA — Needing to clear a spot on their roster for A.J. Cole to make his big-league debut Tuesday night, the Nationals optioned reliever Rafael Martin to Class AAA Syracuse.
Martin, 30, became the odd man out when the Nationals needed to drop someone to account for Cole’s promotion, necessitated by Max Scherzer’s scratch from his scheduled start against the Braves due to a sprained right thumb.
Scherzer isn’t expected to need more than a couple extra days to recover, so a DL move wasn’t necessary, but somebody else off the pitching staff needed to be removed from the roster so Cole could be called up.