Atlanta Braves: Kyle Wright seeks to take advantage of opportunity
Kyle Wright suddenly has an open door to prove himself in a shortened 2020 season with the Atlanta Braves.
When the Atlanta Braves drafted Kyle Wright out of Vanderbilt with the fifth overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, they knew this time would come.
Of course, the Braves did not foresee the bizarre set of circumstances in which it would unfold, but it’s happening nonetheless.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has greatly tempered the usual fervor of baseball season, it’s important to know there is still the opportunity for optimism; both in life and in the game we love.
Kyle Wright has the chance – in baseball’s greatly modified 60-game regular season – to turn something negative into a positive.
The recent combination of a couple of his rotation-mates either battling injuries in summer camp (Cole Hamels) or opting out for safety concerns (Felix Hernandez) has swung the door of opportunity wide-open for Wright.
The 6’4″ right-handed starting pitcher – who grew up firmly entrenched in die-hard Braves country of northern Alabama – has proven himself worthy of this shot.
With three years of college experience and success under his belt, Wright moved quickly through the low minors within the Atlanta Braves organization after being drafted, putting up a strong 2.65 ERA in nine total starts between rookie league and A-Advanced.
That success continued over into Double-A Mississippi, where Wright began the 2018 campaign and totaled 20 starts with a 3.70 ERA (and a 3.34 FIP).
What really energized the Wright hype was when he was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett in late 2018.
In seven total appearances (four of which as a starter) with the Gwinnett Stripers, Kyle Wright flashed a 2.51 ERA, while also seeing his strikeout numbers increase from his time in Mississippi.
He was impressive enough, in fact, to earn his first cup-of-coffee experience in the majors as a September callup in 2018, seeing four appearances of game action.
It was at this juncture, exiting 2018 and entering the 2019 season, that Wright’s buildup – in terms of prospect rankings – reached its peak.
MLB Pipeline tagged Kyle Wright as the Braves’ second-best prospect going into 2019, behind only Mike Soroka, and ahead of the likes of Ian Anderson and Cristian Pache.
In 2019, unfortunately, Wright fell victim to developmental growing pains, and perhaps a bit of prospect fatigue as a result of not living up to the substantial preseason accolades.
But make no mistake, there’s still enough evidence from his troublesome 2019 to suggest that Kyle Wright still has all the potential in the world to be a successful major-league pitcher in the very near future.
Kyle Wright’s struggles in the Atlanta Braves organization in 2019 will make him stronger.
It’s fair to say that Kyle Wright was tossed into the proverbial fire in early 2019.
Due to injuries to a couple of other starters, Wright was unexpectedly thrust into one of the most magnified of atmospheres: his first career MLB start, coming on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast.
It came on the road, against the Philadelphia Phillies and their much-hyped, highly powerful lineup.
Things didn’t pan out so well in that debut for the Braves starter, as he walked five men and failed to make it through the fifth inning.
In fact, Kyle Wright was handed a loss in two of his three early-season outings with Atlanta, struggling with 10 walks in a total of 14 innings pitched over those three games.
When reinforcements arrived to the Atlanta rotation, Wright was sent back down to Gwinnett to put to use his lessons learned.
But it didn’t come easy.
From mid-April through late-August in 2019, Wright tallied 21 starts with Triple-A, and the results – at first glance – were less than stellar.
Wright’s 4.17 ERA in those 21 minor league starts, along with a slightly worse 4.32 FIP, weren’t exactly the totals that many expected, given how Wright ended the previous season so strongly.
Sandwiched in the middle of that four-month experience back with Gwinnett was another cameo appearance at SunTrust Park vs the Washington Nationals.
For Wright, it was a chance to redeem himself of the early-season struggles he had in March and April with the big club.
But this start, too, went sideways early, with Wright surrendering 7 runs in less than three innings pitched.
However, a deeper look at the way Kyle Wright sprinted to the finish line in 2019 reveals that the struggles in Atlanta only toughened his skin.
After that poor July spot-start versus Washington, here’s what Wright did the rest of the way in Gwinnett, stats per BaseballReference’s minor league splits:
- 7 starts
- 4 wins (no losses, 3 no-decisions)
- 2 ER or fewer in five of the seven starts
- Averaged seven strikeouts per start
- At least 6 innings pitched in five of the seven starts
Something clicked for Kyle Wright down the stretch.
His 3.10 ERA over five Triple-A starts in the month of August reflect that change, as does his uptick in strikeout rates (10.9 K/9 in August of ’19 with Gwinnett).
It’s this momentum that he carries with him into baseball’s abbreviated 2020 season, and gives Atlanta Braves fans renewed hope that the promise is there for him to achieve success.
There’s an old adage that says “Success occurs when preparation meets opportunity.” Kyle Wright had extensive preparation through his ups and downs in 2019.
Here comes the opportunity.
What does Kyle Wright project to do for the Atlanta Braves in 2020?
Let’s just say the chips have fallen much more in Kyle Wright’s favor in the early goings of 2020, as compared to 2019.
While Opening Day is still days away, Wright has to be feeling a lot better about his odds to make the final cut of the 30-man roster.
This is largely in part due to the recent events that have cleared the once-muddy picture of the Atlanta Braves rotation.
Veteran Felix Hernandez, who was signed to a minor-league deal back in January, opted out of the 2020 MLB season due to health concerns in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Cole Hamels continues to battle through injuries, currently facing triceps tendinitis that sidelined him for the beginning of the season on the IL (injured list).
Your move, Kyle Wright.
How will the 24-year old handle the opportunity?
Pitching projections for a young arm are tricky enough as is, but especially so in an abbreviated season that may very well consist of 6 or 7-men starting rotations, and occasional “starters” (relief pitchers beginning games instead of serving as “closers”) as Braves manager Brian Snitker has already hinted at.
After all, it’s going to be a substantially shorter season, and managers are going to have to empty their bag of tricks to “play to win” even more so than normal.
Nevertheless, the opportunity is here for Wright, and here’s a reasonable thought for how he could perform.
Firstly, I say it comes to pass over the next few days that Wright seals his spot on the 30-man roster to begin the season (I certainly hope this is the case, anyways, as Wright needs this short season more than most to prove his growth and value to the team).
Over the course of this 60-game season, Wright gets eight starts with Atlanta (while also getting a couple of long-relief appearances), and that he’ll make the most of the opportunity.
Over those outings, I think he keeps the ERA right around 4.00 (far down from the 8.69 ERA he had in four starts last year), while continuing the upward trend in his strikeout numbers at 9.2 K/9 (up from 8.24 K/9 in Atlanta last year).
I’ll also say Wright trims his walk rate down a small amount, as he attacks hitters with an increased confidence in his repertoire.
To summarize, here are my projections for Kyle Wright in 2020:
- 8 starts
- 3-2 record
- 4.00 ERA
- 9.2 K/9
- 1.20 WHIP
- 4th most innings pitched (behind Soroka, Fried, and Foltynewicz)
Next. Big City is Back!. dark
These numbers would definitely provide a reason for optimism going forward for Kyle Wright, as he looks to make his move to join the likes of Mike Soroka and Max Fried as starting pitchers of the future for the Atlanta Braves.