starting rotation – Braves Chop Chat

An Overview of The Braves Coming Into the Month of June:

It’s safe to say that the Atlanta Braves got off to a hot start for the 2023 season. They have not moved out of first place all season long. The starting rotation, granted it has been injury-plagued, has been pretty consistent and so has the Braves offense and defense.

Towards the end of May, things started to slow down for the Braves. They lost their series with the Dodgers (May 22nd-24th), they split their series with the Phillies (May 25th-28th), and then lost their series against the Athletics (May 29th-31st). I think those games against the Athletics were almost a wakeup call for the Braves, because after they lost the first two of the series, they fought back in game three and it gave them some serious motivation going to Arizona.

The Braves took the series against the Diamondbacks (June 2nd-4th) and have been on a hot streak since!

The Braves just wrapped up a sweep of the Mets at home, and those games were a perfect example of how relentless this Atlanta Braves team is. All three games were come-from-behind wins.

In these three games against the Mets, Atlanta’s starting rotation wasn’t as sharp as usual, but the bullpen was lights out. A.J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias were especially sharp. They came into the games when it mattered the most and did not disappoint.

Offensively, the Braves were locked in. They hit 8 home runs over those three games – five of them came in game three of the series. We know that the Atlanta Braves team can rely on the home run game a lot. Yet in this series they showed that yes, they were capable of hitting home runs, but that they’re also capable of getting base hits when needed and taking walks in high-stress situations. And, in game three of the series, Ozzie Albies smoked a 3-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to send the Braves out in style!!

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It is safe to say that this Atlanta Braves team is getting better and better and they are proving that despite their injuries, they are the team to beat in the National League.

Speaking of Injuries, here is the latest on Max Fried (left forearm strain) and Kyle Wright (right shoulder strain):

Fried was moved to the 60-day IL, but this really doesn’t affect him and the Braves too much. He isn’t expected to return until the later half of July, but he has been ramping up some of his baseball actives like playing catch and doing some of the team workouts. Obviously the Braves are going to take the precautious route with Fried. Because he is their ace, they will need him healthy and ready to go when September come; not to mention they don’t want him to need Tommy John Surgery. But it will be nice to see him back on the pitcher’s mound.

Kyle Wright has had a rough season. He missed Spring Training this year with the same shoulder strain. Then after making just five Starts for the Braves, only one of those being longer than 5 innings, he was placed on the 15-day IL. The Braves later moved him to the 60-day IL because an injury like this is a very serious one – especially with it being his pitching shoulder.

It’s heartbreaking to see these two pitchers on the injured list for the Braves because they both did so well last season, but we have to remind ourselves that these things happen to the best teams. The Atlanta Braves are lucky to have had these injuries happen in early April/May instead of late August/September.

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GO BRAVES!!

An Update on the Braves Pitching Situation:

The Atlanta Braves have been bit by the injury bug a lot so far this season, and it has hit their starting rotation the most.

With big injuries to Max Fried (left forearm strain) and Kyle Wright (right shoulder strain), a lot of the weight from the starting rotation has moved to the bullpen. Atlanta’s bullpen has done really well this year. However, when the big injuries to the starting rotation took place, it was like it changed something in the bullpen… and not for the better.

Obviously with the two big injuries a lot of pressure was placed on the bullpen, but the Braves bullpen normally doesn’t crack under pressure. But we saw in the last two series Atlanta played, against the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, that the bullpen could not hold a lead. In three out of four of those games, the bullpen blew a 2-run lead late in the games, which didn’t give enough time for the Braves offense to come back.

A.J. Minter, who in the past has done really well for the Braves, has not been off to a good start in the bullpen. In fact, I’d say he’s struggled the most out of all the Braves bullpen pitchers this season. He is 2-5 on the season and has an ERA of 8.05 over 20 games. He’s only given up 6 walks over those 20 games, but it seems like almost everyone he faces gets a hit off of him. Minter started the season as the Braves closer while Raisel Iglesias was on the IL, and now that Iglesias is back Minter has resumed his role of pitching in the 7th or 8th inning.

Hopefully now that Iglesias is back as closer, it will take some of the added pressure off of A.J. Minter and he will return to being the great pitcher we saw in 2022.

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The Atlanta Braves are currently running off of a three-man starting pitching rotation with Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, and Bryce Elder. Ideally you want a five-man starting rotation, but for the Braves that is easier said than done. Because of the two big injuries to the starting rotation, the Braves have been doing a lot of bullpen games. Jared Shuster is set to pitch tonight (Tuesday, May 16th), and the Braves coaching staff called up Dylan Dodd for a game and then sent him back down to Triple-A Gwinnett. If Shuster does well, and Dodd continues to pitch like he has been, the Braves could easily place them in the rotation to fill in those two missing slots while Fried and Wright are on the IL.

Another thing to keep an eye on regarding the Atlanta Braves starting rotation is Michael Soroka. Soroka started the 2023 season in Gwinnett for the Braves – and with good reason. After coming off tearing his ACL twice in a span of almost two years, and straining his hamstring, doubts of whether Soroka would ever pitch again began to fill all of Braves Country’s minds. But Soroka did not give up. He hasn’t pitched a Major League game since August of 2020, but he is not letting that stop him. He has been working hard in Triple-A, and I’m sure he’s itching to pitch in a MLB game again.

The Braves training staff is playing his rehab assignment very carefully. I’m sure they want him to not only be comfortable on the mound, but for his body to be in good condition so that when he finally gets to pitch again he shouldn’t have any physical problems.

Soroka’s ERA in Gwinnett is 5.47 over 24 innings. He has had some scoreless starts, but he has also had some blowout games. With that being said, I also think the Braves are going to allow him to sort out his starts and become more consistent before they bring him back up to the Majors to resume his career.

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Every Major League team will go through injury-plagued stretches during some seasons. Although the Atlanta Braves have been through a lot lately, I’m glad these inconveniences are happening during the beginning of the season rather than in late August/September when postseason baseball is right around the corner.

I strongly believe the Braves are going to be the team to beat this year, and I’m excited to see where this exciting season will take them!

GO BRAVES!!

My 2023 Starting Rotation Predictions:

It’s finally here! The Atlanta Braves’ pitchers, catchers, and some other eager players have reported to North Port, FL to begin Spring Training.

Pitchers and catchers are set to arrive first because pitcher-catcher bonding is important. If your pitcher and catcher aren’t comfortable with each other or don’t have a good understanding of what pitch is being thrown and the location of it, that is going to cause some serious trouble in a game. Communication for catchers and pitchers is why Spring Training is so important and why they arrive a week early.

Spring Training will be especially important for catcher Sean Murphy. He is who Atlanta got out of their three-way trade with the Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers. Just a few days after this trade, the Braves signed Murphy to a 6-year $73 million deal. He will join Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate for the Braves. He could also be used as a Designated Hitter if Marcell Ozuna does not start to perform better than he has the past couple of seasons. It’s safe to say there’s multiple roles Murphy can fill for the Braves.

With d’Arnaud and Murphy behind the plate, it’s time to take a look at the Braves’ starting rotation. Atlanta has a solid starting rotation, that is, if everyone can pitch the way we know they are capable of pitching. Charlie Morton had a down year last season. He still got a good amount of wins, but they were a struggle. The same goes for Ian Anderson. He was sent down to triple A twice last year because he had a hard time commanding any of his pitches. We know that Ian can be a very good pitcher – we saw this first hand in the 2021 Postseason – he just has a tendency to throw WAY too many pitches. Max Fried wasn’t a sharp as we’re accustomed to seeing last season either, but he still came through when the Braves needed it the most.

The two most surprising Braves pitchers in the 2022 season were Kyle Wright and rookie Spencer Strider. Wright had 21 wins last season. That’s crazy! He was Mr. Consistent for Atlanta, and when he was pitching we knew he was going to give a quality start. He seemed so comfortable on the mound, had such a dominating presence, and maintained control of his pitches. These things helped make him such a good pitcher.

Spencer Strider started out in the bullpen last season. But then, after the Braves coaching staff saw the velocity he had on his pitches and the command he had while throwing so fast, not to mention his strike-out-rate, they moved him into the starting rotation and there was no looking back. In just 131.2 innings he struck out 202 batters! He definitely belongs in the starting rotation and has proven how good he can be.

Last but not least, Mike Soroka. Soroka hasn’t pitched since the 2020 season when he tore his ACL during a game in August. It was heartbreaking to see a young pitcher like him, who had such good potential, go down with an injury like that. Then, he tore his ACL again in 2021 walking into the dugout. So, he hasn’t pitched in a major league game in 2 1/2 years. It will be exciting to see if he has the same command on the mound as he did before he was injured.

With all this to consider about these pitchers, it’s time to talk about how the rotation will be stacked. I think the Braves should start with a 6-man rotation at the beginning of the season so they have more guys available and can work their way into the season, eventually moving to a 5-man rotation.

Here’s how I think it would look:

Max Fried LHP
Kyle Wright RHP
Charlie Morton RHP
Spencer Strider RHP
Ian Anderson RHP
Mike Soroka RHP

Ian Anderson and Mike Soroka can easily be switched in their rotation spots. If the Braves start with a 5-man rotation these two will “compete” for that fifth spot. It will all depend on how comfortable Soroka feels on the mound and how Anderson’s command is.

One thing to note about Anderson is the pitch clock. He can take a LOT of time in between pitches. He will shake off a lot of signs and go through his windup multiple times just to throw one pitch. I’m sure the Braves coaching staff will be working with him during Spring Training to get adjusted to the pitch clock and it will be interesting to see how he does.

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It’s so exciting to have baseball back, and I can’t wait to see what goes on in Spring Training for the Atlanta Braves and into the 2023 season!

GO BRAVES!!

Braves vs Blue Jays Series Wrap

Well, the Blue Jays have been a good team so far this year, and they proved it with a series sweep against the Braves. Injuries have continued to be a very concerning problem for Atlanta. Not to mention the starting rotation needs to become more consistent — along with the bullpen. Hopefully, when Fried and Soroka return (crossing my fingers that it’s sooner than later), the rotation problems will dwindle down. Injuries, we all know, will happen. The Braves have just had an extremely high amount for the first month of the season.

Game One: Drew Smyly vs. Robbie Ray, Braves lost 13-5

After hitting a ton against the Cubs, the Braves bats were not as lively in this game. Smyly’s pitching problems continued in this game. He has a tough time controlling the strike zone and giving up multiple long balls. In just four innings of work, he pitched into the fifth inning but could not retire a Blue Jay batter. He gave up seven hits, six runs, and three home runs. He threw a total of 84 pitches in those few innings of work. Only 46 of them were strikes. His command so far has proven to be his biggest problem along with getting batters out after he gets them to two strikes. The Braves did have a home run of their own. That was courtesy of my man, Ozzie Albies! He hit an absolute bomb in the top of the seventh inning to left center. It went a total of 424 feet and gave the game a score of Toronto 10, Braves 2. The Blue Jays however, kept scoring. Their bats were hot and stayed hot throughout the entire game (and series). They scored three more after Ozzie’s home run, and the Braves scored three more in the top of the eighth on RBI singles to bring the final score of the game to 13-5 with the Blue Jays on top.

Game Two: Charlie Morton vs. Blue Jays Bullpen, Braves lost 6-5

If you told me that Christian Pache would hit a grand slam in his first at-bat in his first game back after being on the injured list, I don’t think I would’ve believed you. But guess what, he did it! After three straight Braves singles to load the bases in the top of the second inning, with two outs, Pache came up to the plate and gave the Braves a huge second inning lead of 4-0. This was Pache’s first career grand slam, and it left the field in left center. That was a very exciting way for him to return and for the Braves to start the game!

But of course…Pitching, pitching, and pitching. That is something the Braves need to figure out. Morton has been the consistent guy on the mound for most of the season for Atlanta. Today wasn’t awful for him, but he wasn’t as “on top” of his game like we have gotten used to seeing. He gave up five runs in 5.1 innings of work. He didn’t qualify for a win, or ultimately the loss. In the top of the fifth inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. went long-ball again with an absolute missile over the left field wall. Man, this kid’s got some serious power!

Injuries. The Braves have gotten hit with the injury bug big time in the early days of the 2021 season. They had another one in this game, and it happened to Braves catcher, Travis d’Arnaud. In the bottom of the sixth inning, on a bad base running play by the Blue Jays’ center fielder, Randal Grichuk, he was thrown out at home plate on a relay throw from Marcell Ozuna to Dansby Swanson to d’Arnaud at the plate. Something happened to Travis’ thumb on his catching hand when he tagged out Grichuk at the plate. Obvioulsy that isn’t good for someone who has to catch 150+ baseballs almost every single day. He was taken out of the game and is now on the Braves 60-day IL with a torn thumb ligament. What a loss! Game 2 remained tied, so it went into extra innings. So far this season, the Braves have not done well in extra-inning games. They have only won one, and that didn’t come in this game. It was the bottom of the tenth inning, game is tied 5-5, and Nate Jones was on to pitch for the Braves. He started out well, retiring the first batter he saw and then, after an intentional walk to Vlad Guerrero Jr., he got a force out. Two men out, one more to get. But that didn’t happen. The next batter he faced, Randal Grichuk, had an RBI, game winning single. The Blue Jays won 6-5.

Game Three: Ian Anderson vs. Ryan Borucki, Braves lost 7-2

Ugh. Another Braves loss. Once again, the Braves started out looking like the game was going to go in their favor. William Contreras started off the second inning for the Braves with an RBI single, which scored my man Ozzie Albies, who reached base on a double. That 1-0 lead didn’t last long. The Blue Jays tied it in the bottom of the second, and they kept scoring from there. Anderson only went four innings. He gave up six hits, four runs, and three walks. Then it was up to the Braves’ bullpen. In the top of the fifth inning, Acuña hit a sac fly to score the second (and final) Braves run of the game.

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Sometimes it just gets down-right hard to come up with something to say when you have to talk about a Braves loss. Again. On paper everything looks great for Atlanta. They have a good lineup, there’s no doubt about that. The main problems are 1) the Braves players can’t stay consistent in the positive. You will have some games where the whole lineup can’t stop hitting, and the others where they can hardly make any contact with the ball at all. 2) They have had too many injuries, and some of them are coming back to bite big time. And 3) Pitching. Pitching is a HUGE component of any baseball game, and if your starters can’t go at least five to six innings, that puts a ton of pressure on your bullpen and requires more work from them. The pitching is what is showing to be the biggest problem for the Braves. Hopefully, once Max Fried comes back, it will add more depth to the rotation and the Braves will start wining games more consistently.