Three takeaways: Atlanta Braves comeback falls short vs Pirates

The Braves bullpen is slowly – but surely – settling in.

In the early moments of the 2019 season, it was most definitely the biggest area of concern for the Atlanta Braves: the bullpen.

The performance of the relievers in Wednesday night’s loss, however, provided further indication that perhaps things are taking a turn for the better.

Josh Tomlin threw two scoreless frames, lowering his ERA to 3.94 and his WHIP to a bullpen-best 0.97.

Lefty Jerry Blevins didn’t surrender a run in his inning of work, either, while striking out two Pirates.

True, the Atlanta bullpen is not anywhere near “fixed”, to this point.

The relief corps still seems to lack that killer instinct necessary to lock down the late innings in high-leverage situations.

Additionally, most of the season-wide numbers are not so kind to the Braves bullpen arms.

However, a closer look at the numbers shows that things are definitely trending in the right direction.

You might be surprised to know that since May 1st, the Braves actually have the 4th best relief pitching ERA in the National League.

That stretch also includes the NL’s 6th best strikeout rate by relievers, and while walks continue to be a problem (3.76 BB/9 rate since May 1st), the Braves have vastly improved in this area since a dreadful April (5.44 BB/9).

Most of the improvement seems to come from slotting relievers into their “best fit” roles. Specifically, Luke Jackson has taken huge strides as one of Atlanta’s go-to relievers in the late innings, while Sean Newcomb and Touki Toussaint have found renewed life in their bullpen roles.

Additions to the ‘pen like Anthony Swarzak and Jacob Webb over the last month have also helped things tremendously.

It most certainly has a ways to go and voids to fill, but the Atlanta Braves bullpen is trending in a positive direction.