LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Atlanta Braves gave former Port Angeles High School standout Jeff Ridgway the chop on Saturday.
Atlanta released the 28-year-old left hander with a little more than a week to go before the major league baseball season begins.
A sore left elbow hampered Ridgway during much of spring training, keeping him from competing with fellow lefties Eric O’Flaherty and Boone Logan for a bullpen spot.
“He came into spring with an uphill battle,” Braves general manager Frank Wren was quoted as saying in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Braves acquired Ridgway from Tampa Bay in a January 2008 trade for infielder Willy Aybar.
Ridgway was called up twice by the Braves last season, posting a 3.72 ERA in 10 relief appearances for Atlanta.
He earned his first major league win on Sept. 13, but his season came to an end days afterward when an MRI revealed a loose bone had shifted in his elbow.
Surgery was deemed necessary, and he had his elbow scoped days later.
It was the fourth surgery of Ridgway’s career, dating all the way back to a Tommy John operation in 1996.
The elbow became inflamed again early on at camp this spring, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That kept him off the mound for three weeks prior to his release.
Ridgway could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
