Atlanta Braves: Top Five Greatest Feats of Leo Mazzone Magic

When we’re watching these re-runs of the past glory years, don’t forget the Atlanta Braves pitching architect at the center of it all.

While spending the past week rewatching the 1995 World Series, I had an epiphany.  For many Atlanta Braves fans, Leo Mazzone’s masterful work during the miraculous run of 14 consecutive division titles often takes a backseat to the more glaring stars of that stretch.

Mazzone, after all, reached the pinnacle of his profession in a rather quiet manner.

Steady as she goes…with a bit of a rocking way about him.

A career minor league player and coach who Bobby Cox elevated to his right-hand man, Mazzone was the epitome of a pitching guru.

A magician, a wizard, a maestro who had the ability to dissect mechanics and pinpoint a pitcher’s area(s) of weakness with ease, while also having an uncanny penchant for pilfering what some might refer to as reclamation projects.

Sure, Leo was never enshrined in the Hall of Fame. No pitching coach has ever been inducted. However, the fruits of his labor have had a lasting effect. Just focus on the facade filled with division banners at Truist Park.

Maybe it was because pitchers generally enjoyed working under Mazzone that he was able to lift hurlers off the scrapheap and transform them so seamlessly.

That’s not to disparage anyone mentioned in this article.

It’s just that Mazzone had the Midas touch.

According to a 2006 New York Times article, J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at Sewanee: The University of the South, in Sewanne, Tenn., conducted a study of every pitcher who played under Mazzone’s watch and compared their yearly ERA with and without Mazzone. “(Bradbury) determined that Mazzone helped pitchers decrease their ERA by slightly more than a half a run per season,” the article said.

Now, of course, we all know about the Big Three. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz won a total of six Cy Young Awards under Mazzone’s tutelage between 1991-1998, and their accomplishments are adorned within the halls of baseball history.

But what about those unsung heroes that Mazzone crafted and converted into invaluable pieces of an ever-evolving puzzle that was the Braves dynastic run?

While you ponder that, we present you with the top five greatest feats of Mazzone magic, a deep-dive into the most valuable single-season Braves resurgent pitching performances during the pitching coach’s tenure.

Sure, there will be some contention within this list. It’s subjective, based on a mix of statistics and my opinion, but built to provoke friendly banter.

Know that for every Kerry Lightenberg and Greg McMichael that could have been included in this list, there was a Mike Remlinger, Chris Reitsma and Juan Berenguer also left off.

This list is simply based on impact to the Atlanta Braves pitching staff during their greatest time of need. A tip of the hat to both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs for providing the stats, where much of the focus related to value is on BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) and FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching).

Without further ado….