Atlanta Braves: Why Josh Tomlin; And GM Promises Surprises in Pitching Staff
By Fred Owens
The wrong ups and downs
Tomlin’s ground ball rate dropped from 39.6 percent to 30 percent, his fly ball rate jumped from 37.2 percent to 45.3 percent, and his homer to fly ball ratio joined the Olympic pole-vault team when it moved from 13.7 percent to 21.4 percent.
In raw numbers, players hit 117 balls out of the infield in the air, and 25 of those were home runs – 12 at home, and 13 on the road.
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Opposing batters hit .304/.336/.611/.947 against Tomlin, lefties hit .353/.397/.728/1.125 with ;a .468 wOBA and 14 homers, while same-sided hitters managed (cough) just .260/.286/.515/.801 with a .336 wOBA and 11 homers.
The Indians bid adieu to Tomlin after that, and he hooked up with the Brewers on a minor league deal this spring.
A look at his Spring Training numbers and you’ll understand saying, “he did not show enough in camp to get the Brewers to add him to their roster,” is a generous interpretation, and why they signed Josh Fields instead.
| ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR |
| 4.80 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 3 |
| BB | SO | HBP | BF | WHIP | H9 | HR9 | BB9 | SO9 |
| 2 | 9 | 4 | 63 | 0.933 | 7.2 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 5.4 |
| Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/21/2019. |
Other Atlanta Braves pitching news
In a radio interview with Sandra Golden – @sportsandra – Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos teased the rotation projected to break camp with the team next week.
"“we’re gonna surprise people the way we break camp,we’re taking the best guys, we don’t care how much time you have..if you throw strikes & have stuff you’ll get the ball”"
They began getting rid of walks when they outrighted Sam Freeman off the 40-man Roster. I hope Sam rejects the outright and goes looking for a job elsewhere, but that’s just me. The other walk heavy pitcher of note is Sean Newcomb.
Newcomb’s given more walks than hits this spring, and his K/9 rate is way down.
| G | IP | H | ER | HR | H9 | BB9 |
| 5 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 7.4 | 7.9 |
| ERA | WHIP | WP | BB | SO | SO9 | SO/W |
| 5.29 | 1.71 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 4.8 | 0.6 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/21/2019.
If Newcomb continues to struggle he may find himself at Gwinnett. Speaking of struggling, Kyle Wright’s been a bright light so far this spring. Today he had a little trouble flicking the switch.
#Braves prospect Kyle Wright gave up 4 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks and 2 home runs in 2/3rds of an inning today vs. Rays, after allowing just 11 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks and no homers in 12 innings over his previous 4 spring starts.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) March 21, 2019
Back to the Anthopoulos quote, the strike throwers this spring are:
- Max Fried 16 Ks, 5 BB in 15 1/3 IP
- Julio Teheran 16 Ks, 1 BB in 12 IP
- Touki Toussaint 17 Ks, 2 BB in 14 IP
- Kyle Wright 18 Ks, 4 BB in 12 2/3 IP (including today)
- Bryse Wilson 13 Ks, 2 BB, in 13 2/3 IP
Is that a season-opening rotation? Yep.