Just a few weeks ago, Atlanta Braves reliever Tyler Kinley was in the midst of a string of poor outings. Kinley was struggling with the home run ball, and beginning to look like a reliever that only could be used in low-leverage spots.
Thankfully, the past couple weeks can be labeled as a bit of a resurgence for Kinley. He has pitched scoreless outings in each of his past five appearances, and over those five outings Kinley has allowed zero runs, zero walks, two hits, and racked up seven strikeouts. His FIP is 0.26 during this stretch, and Kinley's bread and butter slider seems to have regained it's form.
During a recent BravesVision broadcast, reporter Wiley Ballard detailed how Kinley's stride had gotten a little too long on the mound. The "over-stride" was causing a dip in metrics on Kinley's wipeout slider. Credit goes to Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and Kinley for quickly resolving that issue, as their work led to Kinley's improved results since the middle of May.
Now that Kinley appears to have worked out his troubles, he can rejoin Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias in the medium-high leverage spots on a nightly basis. This development creates a nearly flawless bullpen, and shines a light on the one addition this excellent bullpen could use going forward.
Braves acquiring a left-handed reliever will be the cherry on top for their deep bullpen
The current crop of Braves reliever has nearly everything you want in an elite bullpen. High velocity, strong command, impressive breaking pitches, the Braves have a little bit of everything. However, due to the ineffectiveness of Aaron Bummer, Atlanta's bullpen feels one left-handed pitcher short.
Lee has been as impressive as it gets in 2026, and the recently recalled Dylan Dodd is proving he is a Major League caliber pitcher. However, another quality left-handed arm would do wonders for this group. In those late-game situations when you have to go through the likes of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, another high-leverage lefty outside of Lee would really give Walt Weiss some quality buttons to press.
Atlanta's offense has come back to life, and as mentioned earlier so has Kinley. The 2026 Braves is proving to be one of the most talented teams in baseball, and it makes it all the more imperative for Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos to capitalize on this special group. Another left-handed bullpen arm feels like the cherry on top, sadly we are probably going to have to wait until the trade deadline gets closer for this move to be made.
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