It’s borderline surreal to look back at Elder’s success from early in his career when he had a 3.66 ERA over the first 228 innings of his career. Since then, it’s over seven and his struggles were front and center in this start. As a sinker, slider pitcher he doesn’t have a great plan of attack for left-handed batters and routinely floated noncompetitive, subpar changeups to the Twins lefties. The worst of which Trevor Larnach sent into orbit for a 407 foot home run. Yet, the Braves opted for him here over A.J. Smith-Shawver, but that could change soon. Whoever gets that next turn, this spot in the rotation is scheduled to face the Cardinals next time out.

The right-hander struck out four batters in the ballgame and didn’t allow a base on balls. Elder struggled to keep the ball in the yard in this one, serving up a two-run homer to Danny Jansen in the fourth inning and a solo blast to Christopher Morel in the sixth. With Spencer Strider looking increasingly likely to return next week, Elder will probably be relegated back to a long relief role or to the rotation at Triple-A Gwinnett.

The Braves pitching staff is already in dire straits just a week into the season and Elder could not provide them with the length they needed. He didn’t pitch terribly though, especially against a lineup as strong as the Dodgers. Tommy Edman and Michael Conforto each hit loud home runs, but that was the extent of the damage done. Of course, had he stayed in past the fourth inning it could have gotten uglier and the Braves were likely smart to pull him when they did in an effort to preserve their narrow lead. Elder seems to have a secure spot in this rotation with Reynaldo López’s long-term shoulder injury and is scheduled for another tough matchup with the Phillies next time out.

Elder has been summoned to replace Reynaldo López (shoulder) in Atlanta’s starting rotation mix. The 25-year-old righty struggled to a bloated 6.52 ERA, 1.63 WHIP and 46/17 K/BB ratio across 49 2/3 innings (10 starts) last year at the big-league level. He’s not a recommended fantasy option, even in deeper mixed leagues, when he takes the ball for Wednesday’s series finale against the Dodgers.