My Atlanta Braves’ Spring Training thoughts
The Muller as a reliever idea struck me a little odd, and I think that’s due to this lack of current information he discussed. In David’ O’Brien’s last podcast (subscription required), he mentioned that Muller was throwing 96-99 consistently and had touched triple digits.
When you’re a 6’-7 lefty who blows high-nineties heat, the only thing keeping you from being a mid-to top of the rotation starter is keeping all of your long levers under control. If Muller does that and repeats his delivery, he’ll scare a lot of lefty hitters to death.
O’Brien also mentioned Vodnik pitching in the 96-99 area, which isn’t a real surprise. I wrote in my 2018 draft report that he was slinging it at 95 when he was 18-years-old. Hearing that Tarnok was pushing 95 as well might move him up the list of available arms this year.
Pache’s strike-zone awareness looks the same now as it did in the NLCS, but his body looks bigger and stronger. He’s hitting the ball with power to the opposite field; they have fallen in for hits, but the way he’s using the whole field is impressive.
That’s a wrap
I apologize for waiting this long to get the full text of the Q and A up, but life has a way of diverting my attention.
If you have an ESPN+ subscription, check out Kiley’s top-100 list. My thanks to Kiley, ESPN, and FanSided for the invitation. It was an informative and interesting Q&A, with a bunch of real reporters asking questions and me trying not to trip over myself. I hope I get to do it again.