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Atlanta Braves free agent profile: Nathan Eovaldi

By Benjamin Chase

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 24: Nathan Eovaldi #17 of the Boston Red Sox delivers the pitch during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Two of the 2018 World Series at Fenway Park on October 24, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 24: Nathan Eovaldi #17 of the Boston Red Sox delivers the pitch during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Two of the 2018 World Series at Fenway Park on October 24, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
MIAMI, FL – JULY 02: Nathan Eovaldi #24 of the Tampa Bay Rays throws a pitch in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on July 2, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

A dream season

Opening his 2018 season on May 4th in the Florida State League, it was nearly a month of minor league rehab starts before Eovaldi was able to make his 2018 major league debut. That began a whirlwind of a season that would end in the best possible way imaginable.

A pitcher who struggled to locate his fastball (and other pitches) frequently before his surgery, Eovaldi returned with extreme control. After 10 starts with the Rays, Eovaldi had pitched 57 innings, with an incredible 8/53 BB/K ratio.

At that point, the Rays traded Eovaldi to their division rival, the Boston Red Sox, who were looking for a right-handed starter to complement their bevy of lefties in the rotation. Eovaldi was also noted as a “Yankee killer”, as through 2018 he’s made 4 starts against the Yankees, with a 1.93 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in those starts.

Eovaldi picked up his performance with Boston and closed out the season with as quality a pitching job as he’d done at any point in his career, with a 3.33 ERA over 54 innings with the Red Sox in the regular season, posting a 12/48 BB/K and allowing just 3 home runs.

Then came the postseason. Eovaldi had never pitched in the postseason before, but in his first postseason start, he drew the Yankees. Living up to his reputation, he shut them down for 7 innings of 1-run ball, scattering 5 hits, walking none, and striking out 5. He then started one game and came in from the bullpen against Houston in the ALCS, tossing 7 1/3 innings with 2 runs allowed.

Finally came the World Series. In the first two games, Eovaldi was leaned on late in games to offer a power arm to close out the game and hand the ball over to Boston’s closer. In the third game is when his legend was made.

A pitchers’ duel throughout, the Dodgers led the ballgame 1-0 until the 8th inning, when the Red Sox were able to tag struggling Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen for a solo home run to tie the game. The game would go into extra innings. Eovaldi came in to take over in the bottom of the 12th inning, and it was the following inning when his teammate put up a run that Eovaldi hoped he could get a win and put the Red Sox up 1-0.

Instead, a leadoff walk moved around the bases on two fly outs, and an error on a groundout tied the ballgame. Eovaldi calmy retired the following player and buckled in. After six innings of relief on his third game in a row pitching, Eovaldi finally broke, allowing a home run to Max Muncy to leadoff the 18th, but everyone was talking about the gritty, impressive performance from the man on the mound.

Overall, he tossed 22 1/3 postseason innings in 2018, with a 1.61 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP, posting a 3/16 BB/K ratio.

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