Atlanta Braves: 3 Takeaways from Thursday’s lopsided loss

Mike Foltynewicz is still settling in

It’s obviously very important to remember that Mike Foltynewicz missed a ton of time in Spring Training and is basically working the tail end of Spring Training with the big league club right now.

Although he only allowed 2 earned runs today, his stuff wasn’t crisp after the first couple of innings.

All in all, Folty allowed 6 runs through 4.2 IP. His line also included 3 strikeouts, 8 hits, and 0 walks.

However, I am already seeing a few people worried about his average fastball velocity. In 2018 it was a little over 96 MPH — Thursday it was slightly below 94. Yes, that is a gap, but let’s see what it says in another three or four starts.

What does worry me a little more than the fastball velocity is Foltynewicz’ slider. More specifically, a slider that just isn’t working right now.

The home run given up to Ian Kinsler today was off a slider that just wasn’t crisp as most of the sliders he threw today weren’t.

Of Foltynewicz’ 82 pitches, he only got a swing and miss on 7 of them, which is obviously way below what you would want from your staff ace and especially a pitcher that typically has a lot of swings and misses.

All in all though, hopefully Foltynewicz can get in a groove during his next start and pitch like his normal self throughout the summer months ahead.