With the Atlanta Braves once again demoting Kyle Wright, his future with the team could be reaching a critical point.
I’m trying not to be too irrational in what is a crazy season, but you have wonder what is going on in the head of Kyle Wright after the Atlanta Braves sent him back to the alternate site.
The former fifth overall pick has now pitched in parts of three seasons with the Braves and is 0-6 with a 7.52 ERA in 40.2 innings with 35 walks and 35 strikeouts.
This was supposed to be the season that Wright put it all together.
He had a fine first go of things in spring training and had a shot to make the Opening Day rotation.
And then he continued to look good in summer camp, and with the injuries and opt-outs, he was going to get his chance to prove he belonged.
I should mention, this is also after he really turned things around in the second half of 2019 at Gwinnett, so there was a lot of optimism for Wright going into the 2020 season.
But like everything in 2020, things didn’t go as planned.
He had one start of the four he made in which he pitched longer than 3.1 innings.
The issue with Wright is clear, he’s walking far too many batters.
He had a 2.8 BB/9 in the minors last season, but he’s walked 7.7 batters per nine innings in his big league career.
That tells me he just simply doesn’t trust his stuff against Major League hitters, and it’s really just a mental grind for him.
We know he can do it, we’ve seen him do it in the minors. It’s making himself believe he can get hitters out the same way in the big leagues.
That’s why I’m not ready to throw in the towel on Kyle Wright. But I do think his career in Atlanta is a breaking point.
With the trade deadline coming up I think if a team shows interest in him the Braves will certainly listen.
But my hope is that he gets put back in the rotation in September and given five more starts to see if he can become a believer in himself because I really think that’s all it’s going to take.
He hasn’t had that “ah-hah” moment in the big leagues, and I really think once that happens we’ll see the Kyle Wright we’ve all been expecting.
But if he can’t’ figure out, or if he’s not given the opportunity, then I think we may have seen the last of Kyle Wright in Atlanta.