A deeper look at Shane Greene’s first two outings with Atlanta Braves

Greene’s first outing with Atlanta

I’m going to break this down and look at both games with the Atlanta Braves because I think they are very different.

Tyler Flowers caught him in both games and his first pitch was a cutter, and this is the first cutter I’ve seen him throw that did what it was supposed to do as it ran away from the right-handed hitter.

Obviously, Greene was a little amped up for this one and that cutter was at the top of the zone, but Jose Iglesias fouled it off because it was running away from him.

He then threw the slider, which was thrown beautifully in a really good spot running down-and-away, but Iglesias was able to reach out and poke into left field for a hit.

On the next batter, he painted a two-seamer on the outside corner, which is what he loves to do. And then he got away with a cutter that had too much of the plate and Jesse Winker fouled it out of play.

He then threw a two-seamer in that never came back, and then he threw the exact same pitch again and this time it did come back and Winkler hit it to second base for a hit.

And this is where I get on my soapbox about the Atlanta Braves terrible defensive positioning. This should have been a routine double-play ball, but I have no idea where the second baseman is playing.

Just look at this defensive alignment as this ball rolls right through the infield.

At this point, Greene really hasn’t made a bad pitch, but there are two on with no outs.

He starts the next hitter out with a decent cutter that probably had too much of the plate but the batter took the pitch. And then he got him to roll over on a good two-seamer away for what was essentially a swinging bunt.

Clearly ramped up, he threw the fastest pitch I’ve seen him throw to start off Tucker Barnhart, which was a 95 MPH two-seamer way outside. And then he threw him a cutter that broke right down the middle and Barnhart popped it into shallow left field for a game-tying hit.

Greene then pitched carefully to Derek Dietrich and walked him on four pitches — three fastballs and a cutter all way outside.

He started Nick Senzel out with a good cutter running away, but then missed badly outside with it.

Next, he got him to swing through a slider that was up-and-away (in the zone, probably too much). And then he got him to pop out in foul ground to Freddie Freeman on a slider right down the middle.

This outing was more an outing of bad luck. I thought the cutter looked very good at times. Honestly, the worst pitch he threw was that cutter that Barnhart dumped into left field. And that would foreshadow what was to come on Sunday.