Atlanta Braves: 10 reasons why we are now at this point

8. Culberson/McCarthy trade

Charlie Culberson, the unsung hero of this team, was frankly an afterthought of this trade at first. Where would we be without his contributions up until this point?

He has had a fine year both offensively and defensively.  Culberson has been worth 1.5 WAR, and honestly is being used much like Martin Prado was in his early days. It’s always nice to have a player that can play almost any position on the diamond.

Heck, let’s not forger that Culberson can even pitch! He pitched a whole inning without walking a batter!

Speaking of pitching, let us not forget the starts made back in April by Brandon McCarthy as well. He pitched real well for his first few starts in Atlanta and mainly was a thorn in Philadelphia’s side as he went 4-0 against them, allowing 5 Earned Runs in 21.2 innings pitched.

As the calendar flipped to May, things did go south for McCarthy and a knee injury then derailed the rest of his season, but I’m sure glad we have those wins he gave us right now against the Phillies.

7. Newcomb’s first half

Yes, Newcomb’s second half hasn’t been the most stellar point of the year, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that up until June, Newcomb was mentioned in Cy Young predictions and as a potential All Star.

Newcomb was showing he could be a solid #2 pitcher in a rotation and he was doing just that. Just looking at his month of May and his first start in June, Newcomb allowed only 22 hits in 41 innings pitched.

After his start against the Padres on June 5th, Newcomb had a ERA of 2.49 and was 7-1. His command has been shaky all year and it has finally come up and bit him.

However, Newcomb was dealing the first few months, but hey – it’s still early in his career, and he could still be special if he can put together a full season like his first half along with his late July start against the Dodgers and his early August start against the Nationals.