By the Numbers: How Atlanta Braves stack up vs MLB Through 10 Games

The Atlanta Braves pitching has been collectively middle-of-the-road to this point, but it’s definitely not the bullpen’s fault.

There’s a clear distinction that must be made before we go too deep into the numbers here.

While the Atlanta Braves currently rank fairly average – from an overall standpoint – compared to the rest of MLB in terms of most pitching metrics, the statistical difference between the starters and the bullpen is substantial.

This should come as no surprise to Braves fans, who have seen the bullpen pitch well, all the while the starting rotation has seen the bottom fall out behind the strong 1-2 punch of Mike Soroka and Max Fried.

All stats per Fangraphs:

Earned-run average (ERA)

• Starters’ ERA:  4.70 (16th in MLB)
• Bullpen ERA: 3.07 (9th in MLB)
• Overall ERA: 3.89 (12th in MLB)

The contrast is obvious with regards to earned run average: the bullpen has been terrific, the starters have been poor (outside of the Soroka–Fried tandem, which has a combined ERA of 1.95), the difference producing an overall ERA smack-dab in the middle of all MLB team ranks. Not great, but not bad.

Fielding independent pitching (FIP)

• Starters’ FIP: 4.57 (16th in MLB)
• Bullpen FIP: 2.68 (5th in MLB)
• Overall FIP: 3.63 (9th in MLB)

Fielding independent pitching, FIP, gives us a deeper context of how the Braves’ arms are pitching with regards to factors that only they can control.

The context here shows that both the starters as well as the relievers on the Braves staff are actually pitching better than their ERAs would indicate (good news going forward), though their positions within MLB still fall in similar places in the ERAs ranks.

Strikeouts per nine innings (K/9)

• Starters’ K/9: 8.39 (19th in MLB)
• Bullpen K/9: 10.64 (6th in MLB)
• Overall K/9: 9.51 (8th in MLB)

Not a huge surprise here, given that the Braves’ rotation is mostly composed of groundball-inducing types, though I’m sure it would be a positive trend to see some more whiffs being created by the bottom of the rotation.

Again, the bullpen looks very sharp.

Walks per nine innings (BB/9)

• Starters’ BB/9: 4.70 (26th in MLB)
• Bullpen BB/9: 2.05 (2nd in MLB)
• Overall BB/9: 3.38 (16th in MLB)

This is definitely a tale of two pitching corps.

The starters are one of the worst groups in the majors when it comes to issuing the free pass and getting into less-than-ideal pitch economies.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves relievers have been nothing short of elite in terms of their command in the strike zone.

Home runs allowed per nine innings (HR/9)

• Starters’ HR/9: 1.02 (13th in MLB)
• Bullpen HR/9: 0.82 (10th in MLB)
• Overall HR/9: 0.92 (7th in MLB)

Both the starters and the relievers have performed pretty well with regards to keeping the ball in the ballpark this year.

An unlucky bullpen?

As great as the Atlanta Braves bullpen has performed, they’ve actually been unlucky with regards to batted balls so far.

The bullpen’s .333 BABIP (batting avg on balls in play) against them is actually the fourth highest in all of MLB – which directly contradicts where this ‘pen ranks in most other categories – suggesting that they’ve seen quite a fair share of batted balls drop down for hits at a rate that won’t continue.

Ground game

One other success of both the starters and the bullpen thus far is that they are keeping it on the ground.

Fangraphs notes that the Atlanta staff’s fly ball rate is just 30.7%, which is the lowest in all of MLB!

Statcast supports this development as well, noting that Braves pitchers have allowed for MLB’s third-lowest average launch angle (just 9.8 degrees).