Atlanta Braves season reflects the things PECOTA predicted

Freddie Freeman is now a Gold Glove winner, too. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Freddie Freeman is now a Gold Glove winner, too. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Chris Martin is back from the injury list to reinforce the bullpen. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Braves pitching is . . .

I noted earlier that I expected the projected backend of the Atlanta Braves bullpen to do their job. The inclusion of Nate Jones, Carl Edwards Jr., and others is still baffling for a team that publicly said walking batters is not company policy.

Charlie Morton started the year looking for his groove, and it’s still missing. Smyly had four starts where he allowed 4, 5, 6, and 6 runs before righting the ship against weakened Nationals and Brewers lineups.

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Fried was injured, and we saw good and bad starts from Wilson. The starters-stumbles put a bigger load on the bullpen and buckled under the weight. Ynoa was a bolt out of the blue until he decided to break his pitching hand.

The Braves continued to provide manager Brian Snitker pitchers without a history of pitching well in recent years or with young arms who lacked experience. He began by riding the horses he expected to do well but was forced to use less dependable pieces who didn’t do well.

Martin’s Return and the signing of Shane Greene when he clears protocols and arrives should improve the pen. However, the bullpen can’t save games when the lineup doesn’t hit, which brings us back to PECOTA.

The Braves aren’t scoring enough runs to allow the pitchers to exhale. If you take out the double-digit blowout games, the runs/game number drops from to 4.0, and the run differential increases from -17 to -26.

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