Four Under The Radar Atlanta Braves Trade Targets

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Yesterday, the Atlanta Braves added righty reliever Pierce Johnson from Colorado and lefty bullpen arm Taylor Hearn from Texas. Both players have a couple of plus pitches, but GM Alex Anthopoulos hinted there he might have more deals in the pipeline.

The bullpen could use a lefty reliever with late-inning experience, but dreams of Josh Hader are fantasies. With Raisel Iglesias under control for two more seasons, Hader is an expensive rental.

Anyone costing one or more of the best prospects remaining in the Braves system has to offer what Anthopoulos describes as having a long-term impact that makes sense to acquire right now. With that in mind, I rounded up a few left-handed under-the-radar options, and here they are, in alphabetical order.

Aaron Bummer

The Atlanta Braves saw Aaron Bummer throw two clean innings enticing Ronald Acuna Jr. to pop out, then strike out Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, and Travis d’Arnaud, when the White Sox ruined the Braves weekend.

Bummer’s thrown 34 1/3 innings, struck out 43, walked 17, posts a 55.4% groundball rate, a 30.3% chase rate, and hasn’t given up a home run since Eugenio Suarez touched him up on September 7, 2022.

Statcast puts his rates barrel- rate in the 100th percentile, his expected slug in the 98th percentile, and he’s pitching to a 2.35 FIP. Those metrics make it hard to understand how he’s carrying a 6.82 ERA, but I think I have at least part of the answer, Bummer is carrying a .355 BAbip, much of it due to a White Sox defense that is. . . shaky at best.

The White Sox have mixed and matched in the outfield over the last three seasons. The outfield’s –5 DRS ranks 21st in MLB, they’re 19th in outs above average, and UZR ranks them 23rd. Balls that should get caught don’t and go for extra bases.

The White Sox Infield is also underwhelming. The DRS ranks the Sox 25th in baseball with a –6DRS. A groundball pitcher, like Bummer, needs dependable infield defense. Positionally the Sox don’t offer that:

Second base defense’ - 6DRS is 23 in baseball,
Shortstop defense is –11 is 26th,
Third base defense’s –6 DRS is 24th, and
catching’s –6 puts it in 25th place

Put Bummer on the bump in front of the Atlanta Braves’ defense, and his ERA will drop quickly.

Bummer is 29, signed through 2024m for $3.5M to a contract with two option years at $7.6M.

Sam Moll

I noticed this morning that teams are finally talking about Oakland’s 31-year-old lefty Sam Moll. Welcome to the crowd. Unlike Bummer, Moll is a rental owed roughly $245K over the remainder of the season.

He came in to pitch against the Braves on May 30, with the game tied 1-1, struck out Michael Harris II to end the eighth, and started the ninth by getting Acuna to ground out to the shortstop and striking out Matt Olson.

Statcast puts Moll’s barrel rate in the 99th percentile, his xBA in the 91st, and his xSLG in the 97th. Opponents are batting .254 against his sinker, .213 against a slider that it’s become fashionable to call a sweeper, and .250 against his four-seam fastball.

Moll’s thrown 36 innings at a 4.50 ERA, 3.20 FIP, and allowed one homer. He posts a 27.3% K-rate, 10.6% walk rate, a 29.3% chase rate, and a 22.3% WHIFF rate.

Like Bummer, he carries a higher-than-average .337 BAbip, helped there by a defense with a –9 DRS, the worst in baseball by that measure. Statcast is more generous, making the Athletics 20th with –3 OAA.

Tanner Scott

The Atlanta Braves have seen a lot of Marlins’ lefty Tanner Scott, they touched him up for back-to-back homers from Ozzie Albies and Eddie Rosario in April, but the rest of the league hasn’t had much luck facing Scott.

IN 48 IP for the Fish, he’s struck out 71, walked 18, and allowed two homers while pitching to a 5.91 ERA and 1.083 WHIP. On Statcast, his percentile block is a sea of red;

.255 xSLG and 2560 rpm Fastball spin – 99th percentile
xERA/xwOBA, 37% K% 98th percentile
3% Barrel Rate 97the percentile
WHIFF and Hard hit ball rates 96th percentile
85.8 Average exit velocity 94th percentile
.194 xBA and Chase rate 93rd percentile
Fastball velocity 90th percentile.

He features a 96mph four-seam fastball with a 30.6 WHIFF% he uses to punch the ticket 23% of the time and an 89mph slider with a 41.1 WHIFF% that punches a ticket 33.6% of the time.

Batters Hit .224 off his heater and .184 off the slider. The league bats .200/.286/.271/.557 against Scott, who induced a groundball on 50% of balls in play and allowed only one of 11 inherited runners to score.

Scott’s 29, earns the remainder of a one-year $2.83M contract this year and is under control through 2024 via arbitration.

Brent Suter

The Atlanta Braves should know Brent Suter well, the 33-year-old lefty was with the Brewers from 2016 through 2022, but despite being a starter for three years, he’s only pitched against them four times, three with Milwaukee, all in relief.

In 2022 he threw three one-hit, shutout innings against Atlanta, striking out four earlier this year, and gave up two runs on three hits when the Rockies visited Atlanta in June.

This season for the Rockies, Suter’s thrown 44 2/3 innings, striking out 37, walking 14, and allowing two homers while pitching to a 2.62 ERA, 1.10 WHIP.

Statcast suggests that Suter’s ERA is higher than it should be, giving him a .248 xERA. It also rates him highly in several areas. His:

Average exit velocity of 8.64moh is in the 100th percentile
24% hard-hit ball rate is in the 99th percentile
.275 xSLG and 7.7% barrel rates are in the 98th percentile
.203 xBA is in the 89th percentile

Suter throws a four-pitch, low-velocity mix; his best pitch is a 76 mph change with a 37.8% WHIFF rate that works off an 86 mph sinker and 85 mph four-seamer.

Suters pitched to a 2.13 ERA in 25 1/3 IP on the road where, oddly for a Colorado pitcher, he gave up both of his homers on the road, one to Eddie Rosario and the other to Christian Arroyo in Boston.

That’s a Wrap

I like the fit of Tanner Scott for the Atlanta Braves because he’s a power arm, and those are extremely valuable in postseason play. Scott would certainly cost Grissom because they need a bat more than anything else. I’d likely offer to take Joey Wendle as well because he can play second or third, and we might be able to fix his bat.

Aaron Bummer’s next for me because he keeps the ball in the park and would make it very hard on lefties. Suter’s change is one of the best around, and he keeps the ball off the barrel too, preventing lasers from flying all over the field.

Moll avoids barrels and hard-hit balls and all those annoying extra-base hits. He’s also the least expensive to acquire, which is important with a thin farm system. Whatever happens, we’ll keep you informed here at The House That Hank Built.

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