Sep 6, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Williams Perez (57) throws to the Washington Nationals during the second inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves’ offense indeed continued to pound the ball last night, but it was Williams Perez who could not contain the Nationals’ offense – particularly with one batter.
The box score, which you’ll see below, lists the losing pitching from last night as Jose Ramirez. That’s unfortunate. While he did see three runs cross the plate while pitching, only one of those was earned. Also, that meager stat ignores the fact that the Atlanta Braves‘ offense did yeoman’s work just to get back to even after their starter yielded six runs.
I cannot say whether Williams Perez has enough “stuff” to continue as a starting pitcher. He’s had several solid outings, but last night wasn’t one of those.
Examples:
- Bottom of the second inning, 7 pitches to 8th place hitter Danny Espinosa with 2 outs. A 2-2 pitch was eventually hit up the middle for a single, moving a runner to third base.
- Next batter: Gio Gonzalez. 6 pitches to him. The last (also on a 2-2 count), followed Espinosa’s with another single up the middle – scoring Anthony Rendon.
- Bottom of the third inning: 5, 5, and 6 pitches to Werth, Murphy, and Harper – three ball counts on all. Results: 3 singles.
- Then the really bad one: an 0-2 count to Rendon… but with 3 more pitches fouled off, Perez continued to go back to his sinker… except the last one was missing 2 things: (a) speed (it was slower); and (b) sink. Rendon killed that duck into the stands for the decisive grand slam… decisive because that’s 4 batters and 4 runs that the Nationals got because Perez didn’t have enough in his arsenal to put batters away yesterday.
Yes: Perez was getting a number of ground balls, but many were sharply hit for singles. He wasn’t fooling many, but the deep counts suggest that his pitches were being spoiled – even by the 8th/9th place hitters.
Perez left the mound after a second homer in that third inning having thrown 71 pitches… 51 for strikes. The control is good – too good, perhaps, for the hitters knew where to swing. But this pitch-to-contact thing works if there’s enough movement to induce weak or off-center contact.
That didn’t happen, and it raises that question of whether this is just the way Perez’ game is now, of if yesterday was the exception, for good hitters will exploit that – and they did so during the second trip through the order.
Here’s your box score:
Next: Quick Hitters
Quick News and Notes for the Braves
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- The GCL Braves fell in their one-and-done Sunday playoff game to the Phillies, 4-3. A homer by Anthony Concepcion in the 9th plated 3, but it was the only offense they could muster. The GCL Phillies and Cards are tied 1-1 in their series.
- The Rome Braves begin their playoff run tonight vs. Charleston (Yankees) at 7pm ET. They are scheduled for Friday and Saturday (if necessary) in Charleston at the same time. This is a best-of-three series. Charleston was 76-63 for the year; Rome was 70-69, but played much better in the second half.
- AA Mississippi travels to Pensacola to face the Blue Wahoos (Reds) in a best-of-five series. Play begins at 6:30pm ET: 2 games in Florida; 2 back home; then one more on Sunday in Florida as needed. Pensacola was 81-59 for the year; Mississippi was 73-65 overall.
- AAA Gwinnett starts at 6:35pm ET tonight in a best-of-five series against Columbus. Similarly to the AA series, it’s 2 on the road, 2 at home, but if there’s a fifth game needed, it will take place in Georgia on Sunday. Columbus (Cleveland affiliate) was 82-62 this season. Gwinnett was 65-78.
Tebow and Cash
There was some confusion on the subject of Tim Tebow yesterday. The Braves are trying to sign him, though he’ll have to accede to monetary restrictions.
Tebow was actually Rule 4 draft-eligible this year (not a big deal – so am I), which means that he’s subject to the usual bonus restrictions… even as an undrafted free agent.
Why is this the case? Well, suppose there was a kid that you’d want to sign, but you could keep “hidden” (think someone like ‘Evan Gattis‘, perhaps?). If you were able to sneak him through June undrafted, then you could – in theory – sign him for any dollar amount… unless the bonus restrictions still applied. That would be an unfair advantage for the signing team.
The Braves spent nearly every dollar they could on their draft, leaving only around $5 (that’s literally the number) available before jumping into the dreaded “loss of next draft pick penalty” abyss that nobody wants to get into.
So how much could they offer Tebow? We believe it to be $100,004.99. That’s it. That $100,000 doesn’t count against the bonus pool, but every dollar above that does.
Next: And a 19-year-old Shall Lead Them
So if Tim wants to be a Brave… he’s going to have to play ball under those terms.