Atlanta Braves: Mike Foltynewicz needs to leap forward in 2020
By Josh Mathews
The ups and downs of a season
The photo above is a great depiction of Folty celebrating, and it was well deserved. However, when April turned to May, and even later into the summer, it didn’t appear if he would be involved in any celebration at all.
It all started with an elbow issue in spring training that sidelined him, pushing back the start date to his season. When his season started, it came via a rehab assignment with the AAA Gwinnett Stripers. It didn’t go well.
After his first start of a rehab assignment that featured five innings of shutout baseball, his next three starts lasted 12.2 IP and he gave up 12 runs on 17 hits. Folty walked seven batters, hit another and struck out 12. Despite an underwhelming performance, he was recalled, but things didn’t improve.
Upon his return, he made 11 starts, pitching 53.1 innings. When his earned run average ballooned to an ugly 6.37 after giving up eight runs to the Washington Nationals, he was optioned to Gwinnett. Looking deeper, Folty struck out 50 batters and walked 20, which is good, but his slider didn’t have that bite and hung in the zone. That, in part, led to him giving up 16 home runs during that stretch.
Folty spent the month of July in the minors, but improved significantly, and further improved, until he was recalled by the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 5.
During that stint in the minors he pitched 33.2 innings, allowing 10 earned runs on 27 hits. Most importantly, he struck out 31 batters to just eight walks and didn’t allow a single home run.
Down the stretch, Folty was back to his old self again. He only gave up more than three runs once, on Aug. 11 against the Marlins, and he still picked up the victory. The Braves won nine of his ten starts. The lone loss came to the New York Mets on Aug. 28 after the division was wrapped up. The Braves couldn’t support a solid start and fell 3-0.
The postseason
Unfortunately for Foltynewicz, he put together one of the best postseason starts in Atlanta Braves history and one of the worst starts— in the same series.
In Game 2, he posted seven shut out innings, allowing three hits, striking out seven and issuing no walks. He out-dueled St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty and evened the series at one game a piece.
The only thing about his Game 5 start that was similar was that he only allowed three hits. Those three hits were accompanied by three walks and Folty allowed six earned runs and recorded just one out before being pulled from the game. Once the floodgates were open, it didn’t stop, and the Cardinals won 13-1.