Atlanta Braves: Best pitching seasons of the decade
By James Kunkle
#5 Jair Jurrjens in 2011
Remember Jair Jurrjens? It’s OK if you don’t, but back in 2011, he was on top of his game.
The final record was 13-6, but it was the first few months of the year where he really took off. A sparkling 1.51 ERA was where he stood when the calendar flipped to June, and at that point, he very well may have been the leading CY Young award candidate.
Besides the numbers we have already mentioned, it may be just as impressive that he completed at least 5 innings of ball in every one of his starts that year, and he never threw less than 83 pitches in a game.
It did seem as if Jurrjens was worn out as the season was drawing to a close since his September was easily his worst month. The results in that month alone drove his ERA from 2.38 to 2.96, which was where it obviously finished.
That season was the lone All-Star berth for Jurrjens, and his career went downhill fast after that year. He spent the 2012 season in Atlanta before finishing up his career with short stops in both Baltimore and Colorado.
Maybe if injuries don’t get to him, who knows where he would have wound up, but no doubt he gave the Braves everything in 2011.