Alex Anthopoulos irritated Atlanta Braves fans a little bit in the offseason when he didn't add a top-of-the-rotation starter. That was one of the main things Atlanta needed to address, and it's been a glaring misstep all season long.
However, there was hope that things would be addressed at the trade deadline. When it passed and the team only acquired Tyler Mahle, it felt like a slap in the face. As if the powers that be could care less about giving the team a fighting chance. Luckily, Mahle has looked pretty great since coming to Atlanta and tweaking his pitch mix.
One offseason pitching decision by Anthopoulos has somehow turned into gold. When Martín Pérez was signed to a minor league deal, it was obvious to everyone that the front office was pinching pennies. There have been times during this season when it felt like things were going to blow up in everyone's faces. However, that hasn't really happened, and Perez has been one of the best starters in the rotation.
Martín Pérez has surprisingly been one of Atlanta's best pitchers, but it could fall apart in an instant
The lefty has a 2.96 ERA, 43 walks, and 80 strikeouts over 106.1 innings pitched. That looks great on the surface, but his 4.19 FIP says otherwise. That's what makes his great performance so mind-boggling. Perez's strikeout and walk rates are awful, which makes it even crazier. Perez's extension and xERA also don't seem to make sense when correlated with his success.
And despite having one of the lowest velocity fastballs in the game, his fastball run value is excellent. So why does everything indicate he should be one of the worst pitchers in baseball, but he isn't? A deeper look into his BABIP seems to explain how. Perez's BABIP is .231 this season, which indicates he is benefiting heavily from a good defense behind him and weak contact. The southpaw has excellent numbers when it comes to ground ball and barrel rate.
Perez also has a crazy high left-on-base percentage of 81%, and that surely has helped keep his numbers from being worse. But as Hammer Territory's Stephen Tolbert pointed out, it's a great thing while it's happening, but it is rarely sustainable.
This is something that fans are grateful for (or at least they should be). They certainly don't want Perez to be bad, but it definitely feels like only a matter of time before the luck ends.
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