Braves Reshape Rotation Williams Perez in Eric Stults Out
By Fred Owens
Matt Wisler Mandatory Credit Chris Roughgarden-Gwinnett Braves
Why not Wisler
The rapidly deteriorating Stults led fans to cry for the promotion of Matt Wisler. Wisler had a rough transition after arriving in the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to San Diego. He made four starts posting a 6.57 ERA and 1.700 WHIP while giving up four home runs, seven doubles and two triples. May has been a better month however pitching to a 1.42 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP in his three starts. The question isn’t why not Wisler but why now?
Wisler is however just 22 years old and not on the 40 man roster at this point. The Braves will likely resist starting Wisler’s arbitration clock in a season where they aren’t likely to challenge for a post season slot. If things change Wisler could be added of course but for now the Braves are happy to let him hone his craft at Gwinnett.
That’s A Wrap
While I can’t claim a Tim Hudson comp for Perez – there’s only one Huddy – now that his major league butterflies are flying in formation he should have similar results. What we’ve seen this year is the young players taking the chance that come their way. Jace Peterson’s settled in nicely at second, Todd Cunningham started his second tour with the Braves with a scorching bat and solid defense and Folty slipped into the rotation and gets better with each outing. I expect Perez to do the same thing.
There will be bumps and bad days along the way but the young Braves team seems to be having fun and playing well. We should clear some deadwood from the bench – Eric Young Jr. and Alberto Callaspo as soon as possible please – and replace them with guys who have a future or at least have the potential to have a future like Adonis Garcia, Cedric Hunter and Joe Benson. We’ve seen enough of the EY experiment and Collapse-Oh is just taking at bats a ball player could be using.
Peterson, Cunningham and others have shown their potential and while they may slump or fail to stick for good, they would still be as good as the players they replaced. The kids are here and playing well. It’s time to move on Mr.Hart, really time to move on.