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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Notes with a quarter of the season done

By Alan Carpenter

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 09: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch in the first inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 09, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 09: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch in the first inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 09, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 29: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch in the first inning during the game against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 29, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 29: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch in the first inning during the game against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 29, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /

The Break-outs

Ranking major league starting pitchers by ERA with a minimum of 20 innings gives a result that might surprise many:

  • Mike Soroka:  1.21
  • Jon Lester:  1.41
  • Zach Davies:  1.54
  • Chris Paddack: 1.55
  • Matt Shoemaker:  1.57
  • Martin Perez:  1.64
  • Hyun-Jin Ryu: 1.72
  • Jerad Eickhoff:  1.73
  • Luis Castillo:  1.76
  • Tyler Glasnow:  1.86

That’s an impressive showing for the rookie… perhaps even more given the slow start that Atlanta scripted for him after getting his shoulder back into shape.

Before Sunday’s game, Max Fried had ranked 33rd.  His ERA rose slightly to 3.25 from 3.11, which will drop him to roughly 40th… just ahead of Jacob deGrom.

Without this pair of breakout starters, where would the Atlanta Braves be?  The 4 that were supposed to be the rotation anchors – Gausman, Teheran, Foltynewicz, and Newcomb – have all had some difficulties for one reason or another.

At the same time, if 2 or 3 of those can get their acts together between now and the All-Star break, this team might be ready to rock.

Suspension Accepted

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kevin Gausman was unavailable on Sunday, as that became the 1st day of his 5 game suspension for throwing in the general direction of Jose Urena‘s backside on May 3rd.

This was likely a strategic choice, with Atlanta having an off-day (finally) on Monday.  He’d almost certainly have missed a starting date regardless of the outcome of an appeal, and in this way, the Braves was be able to shuffle their rotation to work through this without a major disruption.

Had an appeal been heard (this has traditionally happened when teams next get in the neighborhood of the MLB’s New York offices, though Atlanta doesn’t get to Citi Field until the end of June), then the suspension would have begun immediately after the hearing ended.

So even if the 5 game penalty had been knocked down to 4 days, it would have come in the middle of a road trip and the chances for rotation disruption would be higher.

Gausman was slated to start on Friday vs. Milwaukee.  That’s now his 5th suspension game, which pushes him back a day – to Saturday.

Folty/Soroka/Teheran are penciled in as the scheduled starters for the home series with St. Louis (Tuesday-Thursday).

Max Fried could now go on regular rest now on Friday; he had been scheduled for Saturday.   Sean Newcomb or Touki Toussaint could piggyback with him then.  So there are multiple viable options available.

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