Atlanta Braves make it official, right-handed pitching prospect Lucas Sims will start Tuesday

Braves to call up RH pitching prospect to make debut Tuesday

The Atlanta Braves will call up — MLB Pipeline’s #19 Braves prospect — Lucas Sims to start on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  This will be the 23-year-old’s MLB debut.

“Lucas Sims will make his debut tomorrow,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told the media following Monday afternoon’s game.  “He’s had a really good year.  His numbers are really good and he’s worked really hard.  It will be exciting to see one of our young kids get an opportunity.  Welcome to the big leagues.”

Snitker said welcome to the big leagues with a laugh because Sims will be facing the best team in the MLB as the LA Dodgers come to SunTrust Park for a three game series.  The Dodgers are an MLB best 74-31 in 2017 with an extremely deep lineup.

One positive for Sims though, the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate plays in the Pacific Coast League and the Braves Triple-A team plays in the International League.  Meaning those great young hitters that the Dodgers have may have never (or maybe only a few times) faced Sims.

Also, with this being Sims’ first MLB start, the Dodgers won’t have many videos to go off of.  Advantage Sims!

Who’s this guy throwing Tuesday!?

The Braves drafted Sims in the 1st round of the 2012 draft — 21st overall — out of Brookwood high school in Snellville, Georgia.

The 6’2″ 220-pounder has been on the Braves and the MLB radar for a while now.  Following the 2013 season, Baseball America ranked him as the #57 overall prospect, MLB.com had him as the #60 prospect and Baseball Prospectus ranked him #40 overall.

The next year didn’t go well for Sims on the mound as he ended 2014 with a 4.20 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 8.43% walk rate, but a 15.83% strikeout rate.

In 2015 he was involved in that scary bus accident that left him on the disabled list for over two months.  Don’t remember this?  On May 12, 2015 the Carolina Mudcats bus flipped on its side after the driver hit a ditch.

“About 20 seconds after I walked out of the bathroom, I was standing on some seats, and the next thing I know, I was thrown to the side and we stop moving,” Sims told reporters following the accident.  “Just constant chaos broke out.”

This was a setback for the youngster, but he came back strong after a promotion to Double-A.

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In 2016, he started the season with Double-A Mississippi Braves and following just three starts, he was bumped up to Triple-A.  He struggled against better hitters at this level and was eventually demoted back down.  He finished 2016 with 28 appearances, throwing 141 innings with a 4.40 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 14.56% walk rate, and a 25.16% strikeout rate.

2017 could have been a make or break season for Sims as he was added to the Braves 40-man roster to avoid losing him to the Rule-5 Draft.  He may have realized that as he’s pitched great for Gwinnett this year.  He’s 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA in 20 appearances.  He’s struck out 132 hitters compared to walking just 36 in 115.1 innings pitched.

On July 16th, Sims recorded 11 strikeouts and told reporters after the game “I know I can pitch up there.  And I know I’m ready.  It’s just a matter of time.”

After the Braves traded Jaime Garcia to the Twins, a rotation spot opened up.  Sims was a name thrown around if the Braves didn’t make another trade deadline move.  The other name that was tossed around was Kris Medlen.  Medlen I think needs more time in Triple-A before he returns to the MLB.

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Sims can run his fastball up to 97-98 MPH, though it usually sits more in the 93-95 range.  He’s got a very nice 12-6 curveball and a change-up to mix up hitters.