The state of Atlanta Braves' starting pitching has quickly become a weakness. Spencer Strider is out until at least August, and JR Ritchie struggled in his first start back since being called back up from Triple-A. Couple that with recent struggles from Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes, it can be argued that Martín Pérez is the second-best starter on the roster at the moment.
The Braves are in an interesting position where two of their best potential alternatives to start games, Reynaldo López and Didier Fuentes, are not stretched out to start. However, if the Braves decide to make a change, they could ease either López or Fuentes back into the rotation by emulating a piggybacking strategy currently being trialed by the Seattle Mariners.
Braves should consider copying Mariners unique piggybacking strategy
Last month when starting pitcher Bryce Miller returned from an oblique injury, the Mariners were limiting Miller's pitches. After his first two starts, they decided to just piggyback him and Luis Castillo, with one of them covering four innings and the other covering five innings.
While there was initially some frustration from both pitchers, the results were phenomenal, as the duo only allowed two runs in across 19 innings in their two piggybacking efforts. Although they moved away from the strategy briefly, the club announced yesterday they were bringing it back until the All-Star break to preserve their six starters arms, this time with unanimous support from their pitchers.
Although the Braves are not in the same spot with their potential starters, they could duplicate aspects of the piggybacking strategy. The Braves could easily enter a game using either López or Fuentes as an "opener" for Grant Holmes or Ritchie, prescribing a pitch goal for each start. This way the Braves would be able to stretch out whichever pitcher they choose every game, with a plan to get them to throwing 80-90 pitches eventually.
Of course there are downsides to this plan. The first is that it would obviously eliminates a bullpen arm from the mix in other games. López has been used in low- to medium-leverage, but Fuentes has been the Braves fourth-best reliever this season. Fuentes would seem like the best option to stretch out, but considering his age and his lack of professional innings, the Braves might be best to leave him in the bullpen, for their sakes and his.
López has his own downsides for re-entering the rotation. While the righty has a 4.24 ERA since being moved to the bullpen and has not allowed a run in four of his last five outings, he's struggled in multi-inning outings. Since becoming a reliever again, he's allowed runs in three of his four multi-inning outings this season.
Still, the Braves might need to see if there's a chance López could be a legitimate starter again, and with a month-and-a-half before the trade deadline, this experiment could be the only way to find out.
Add us as a preferred source on Google