The Atlanta Braves bullpen hasn't been quite as bad lately, but this is still a very vulnerable group at the moment. Raisel Iglesias still has work to do to regain everyone's confidence, both Enyel De Los Santos and Rafael Montero and maddeningly inconsistent at best, and there is something pretty weird going on with how the Braves are using Pierce Johnson. While the trade deadline may yield real upgrades to the pen, the Braves may have the easiest solution sitting at Triple-A right now.
Jhancarlos Lara is a relatively known commodity to Braves fans thanks to his ability to hit the upper 90's with his fastball. The Braves had been trying to make Lara work as a starter in the minors, but he has worked exclusively out of the bullpen in Triple-A.
After a rough start to his time at Gwinnett, Lara seems to have turned a corner and now could be very much in the running for a big league promotion soon.
Jhancarlos Lara is making big time progress at Triple-A and could factor into Braves' bullpen plans soon
The quality of Lara's raw stuff has never been in question. When he is on, his fastball-slider combo is not fair and his ability to miss bats has been a constant in the minors. However, Lara's biggest issue has been his command and this year has been no exception with him giving up more than a walk an inning.
However, Lara has shown real signs over the last couple of weeks. In his last four appearances, Lara has not given up an earned run and has only given up one walk against eight strikeouts in five innings of work. A small sample to be sure, but it is a marked improvement over what Lara was doing before.
Ultimately, calling up Lara is going to be contingent on him being able to find the strike zone when he needs to. Atlanta doesn't need a guy that can't come into games and put fires out and they certainly don't need another arm that causes fires all on his own. If Lara has one or two more clean appearances in the minors, don't be shocked if we see him in the majors soon. If that happens and Daysbel Hernandez returns from injury without issue, this Braves bullpen gets a lot more interesting.