Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos did not acquire a starting pitcher at the trade deadline, but that doesn’t mean impactful potentially isn’t on the way.
Name the starting pitcher and it seems likely the Atlanta Braves at least had preliminary discussions about him before the trade deadline.
But as time crept closer to 4pm Wednesday afternoon, it became apparent to Anthopoulos that the asking price for all of the starting pitchers on the market was too high for his taste.
Example: Matt Ehalt, who covers Major League Baseball for Yahoo, gave us some insight as to what the Mets wanted for Zack Wheeler.
Heard the Mets mentioned Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright in Wheeler talks with Atlanta.
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) August 1, 2019
Braves said nope.
Mets asked for the moon for Wheeler.
No thanks. (Note: Wheeler is only under team control for just 2 more months!)
So while Anthopoulos focused more on the bullpen and he did a great job doing so, that does not mean that an impact, frontline guy can’t be had.
His name is Mike Foltynewicz.
Now before you start to question my sanity, let’s take a look at what Foltynewicz has done at Triple-A and see if there are positive signs that show he might be on the cusp of figuring things out and becoming the 2018 version once again.
Since his demotion in late June, Foltynewicz has been really good at Gwinnett, as he is 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA. His WHIP is 1.19, his FIP is 2.60 and his strikeout to walk ratio is 31-8.
In his past two full starts at Gwinnett Foltynewicz has thrown 13 innings and allowed just two earned runs, while striking out 10 and walking four.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from his demotion, which has encompassed 33.2 innings, is that has not allowed a home run, which plagued Foltynewicz in Atlanta this year.
Who knows if this means if Foltynewicz is close to returning to the big leagues, but it’s encouraging to say the least.
Being able to locate his slider is the key for Foltynewicz and he told Jeff Schultz of The Athletic (paywall) that he had to overcome the fear of his early season injury in order to throw his off-speed stuff.
Foltynewicz doesn’t have to be what he was last season, although that would be nice. He just needs to be a No. 3 or No. 4 this season and supplement Dallas Keuchel and Mike Soroka.
Anthopoulos did a great job of shortening the game by adding length to the bullpen, but the rotation still has many question marks, none greater than the impact Foltynewicz can have the rest of the season.
Let’s hope he can give the Braves a resounding yes in the very near future.
It might be optimism. It might be delusional. It might not happen.
But for some reason, I think Mike Foltynewicz is going to make an impact for the Braves down the stretch and into postseason.