Wandy Rodriguez pitched five no hit innings last night and Jace Peterson continues to shine on both sides of the ball as the Braves roster seems almost complete 14 days before the season begins.
The Braves Roster So Far
This morning’s view of the roster sees for of the five starters, 10 of the 13 everyday players, and four of seven relievers decided. We’ll soon see others joining the the recently departed Jose Veras on a job hunt.
Starting Pitching
As Alan wrote earlier, in spite on internal concerns about potential injury Wandy’s performance this spring earned him the fourth starter’s slot alongside Julio Teheran, Alex Wood and Shelby Miller. Skipper Fredi Gonzalez took the unusual step of pushing the top three to minor league games so she could give the remaining contenders a chance to shine against major league competition.
That competition includes Eric Stults started today against the Nationals in a split squad game, Chien-Ming Wang who started against the Cardinals in the other split squad, Manny Baneulos, Mike Foltynewwicz and Cody Martin.
Martin is the surprise of the spring so far throwing eight innings while posting an ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 1.000 striking out seven and walking four. He’s also the youngest and most versatile having worked well out of the bullpen, a place where neither Stults or Wang have had success.
Today may have been Wang’s left shot at proving his usefulness but he’s been better than his numbers as all that damage came in one bad outing against Houston. In his other three outings – including today – he threw 6 2/3 innings gave up 6 hits walked 3 and struck out 4 with an ERA of 0.00. A heavy ground ball pitcher, Wang used the double play successfully in every outing to prevent the base runners from turning into runs. Today he went 4 2/3 innings retiring 12 hitters in a row before giving up a single in the fifth.
Meanwhile Stults wasn’t doing as well against the Nationals. Through five innings Stults allowed 2 runs on 5 hits walking 1 and striking out 2.
Baneulos started out slowly but was very good in his last outing. He needs to be stretched out but the lack of a left hander in the bullpen that can get left handed hitters out may force him into that role. Folty’s last start was good and if he’s solid in his next two starts his 96 MPH heater could push everyone else aside.
Rodriguez selection may be bad news for Stults. Both are soft tossing lefties and over a similar number of pitches although Stults relies on his fastball and slider more often while Wandy prefers his two seamer and cutter. Pitch F/X shows their velocity and selection similar.
| Type | Count | Selection | Velocity | |
| Stults | FF | 2839 | 47.0% | 87.5 |
| Rodriguez | FF | 2299 | 29.6% | 89.3 |
| Stults | CH | 1387 | 22.9% | 78.3 |
| Rodriguez | CH | 840 | 10.8% | 83.5 |
| Stults | CU | 614 | 10.2% | 66.8 |
| Rodriguez | CU | 2602 | 33.5% | 75.8 |
| Stults | FT | 192 | 3.2% | 83 |
| Rodriguez | FT | 1750 | 22.5% | 88.9 |
| Stults | SL | 1013 | 16.8% | 79.2 |
| Rodriguez | FC | 271 | 3.5% | 89.6 |
Stults probably doesn’t make the cut but Wang could well slip into that fifth spot, it would make the bullpen better.