Braves send Newcomb down to Minors camp

Sean Newcomb turned in two impressive innings in the Grapefruit League on Wednesday, but that didn't earn him the chance to stick around Thursday.
Citing a need for the No. 80 overall prospect to get more preseason work in than opportunities with the big league club would provide, the Braves reassigned Newcomb to Minors camp. Prior to Wednesday, he'd made one other appearance, giving up four earned runs on six hits while striking out one in an inning against the Yankees on March 1.

"He needs to get in his routine and he wasn't going to make our club," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com. "I told him, one of these days, you're going to walk into this office and I'm going to say, 'Nice to see you, you're pitching tonight.'"
The 23-year-old left-hander came to the Braves from the Angels in the November 2015 Andrelton Simmons deal, and he was 8-7 with a 3.86 ERA and 152 strikeouts over 140 innings across 27 starts in his first full-season of Double-A ball last year.
Since turning pro as a 2014 first-rounder, he's piled up 338 punchouts and 153 walks over 290 2/3 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .216 average.
He seems poised to begin the 2017 campaign with Triple-A Gwinnett.
Meanwhile, the Angels cut their No. 2 prospect from Major League camp. Matt Thaiss, a first-round pick in last year's Draft, went 5-for-11 (.455) with an RBI, a run scored and two walks over 10 Cactus League games. The 22-year-old first baseman spent 15 games with Rookie-level Orem and 52 with Class A Burlington last season, combining for a .292/.361/.462 slash line with six homers, 19 doubles and two triples.