Braves Rotation Projections – The New Big Three

Kris Medlen, Mike Minor and Julio Teheran start 2014 at the top of the Braves rotation. Please credit graphic created by Fred Owens

As we prepare for the 2014 season The top of the Braves Rotation is both young and experienced. It was that way during the streak as well and the Braves rotation was the consistent heart of the team that made it possible.

In 91 and 92 the top of that rotation consisted of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Steve Avery. Before the 93 season 93 John Schuerholz made the most astute free agent signing of his tenure when he inked the best right handed pitcher of the modern era Greg Maddux. For the next eleven seasons teams faced arguably the best rotation in baseball featuring three perennial Cy Young  candidates every time they played Atlanta.  In his blog Buster Olney (Insider subscription required) rated the Braves rotation eighth in the majors.

". . .while the Braves might not have a Cy Young candidate, they do have depth, and even after the since-departed Tim Hudson went down with a season-ending injury in July, Atlanta’s rotation . . .performed well.Brandon Beachy should be in better position to be a factor as he nears the two-year anniversary of his elbow surgery. Alex Wood showed a lot of promise in his first season in the big leagues, which included 11 starts."

The rotation responded well after we lost lost Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm this season leaving Kris Medlen the elder statesman (and head prankster in chief). It is younger that the 91 crew but they’ve been blooded in big games and shown they aren’t awed by anyone. So, I thought I’d put on my mystic bonnet and try to foretell what can we expect from the young guns in 2014. The projections that I’ve found for 2014 are less optimistic than I am about everyone except for Baseball HQ’s projected ERA for Medlen. I have no favorite source of projections. Those that are missing either require a subscription I don’t have or haven’t been published yet.  Steamer and Oliver I took from  the player pages at Fangraphs  Zips projections I took from this link.  The Baseball Guru spreadsheet is available on that website  and of course the Baseball HQ projections are on their site, a subscription is required.  In some cases I had to calculate strikeout totals from the projected k/9 rates. If a cell is empty that system doesn’t provide a projection.

 Kris Medlen

Medlen and Minor are 1 and 1A in our rotation right now. Meds woke baseball up in 2012 when the Braves reluctantly inserted him into the starting rotation and he went on to post a 9-0 record with an ERA of 0.97 and a WHIP of 0.800 in that role. It earned him the start inf the notorious infield fly game. He took the loss in that game even though he posted a WHIP 0.474 and allowed just 2 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.  The 2013 season was another superb one for Meds. He made  31 starts, threw 197 innings and posted a 3.11 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Depending on your favorite flavor of WAR, Kris was either a 2.5 fWAR or a  3.3rWAR pitcher. At the ripe old age of 28 Medlen finds himself leading the Braves rotation and sometimes being  compared to Maddux.  He’s not the Professor but he has been the most consistent of the three so far and I expect close to the same numbers next season as well.

Medlen is exactly the same kind of pitcher now he was in 2010 when he stepped into the rotation. He will pitch to his defense and try to make any contact weak contact. He’s not a strikeout machine in spite of delivering 157 of them last year. The defense behind him will be as good as last year’s and  I expect him to out perform his projections again as he has every year.

Mike Minor

Talk about big shoes to fill, when Minor first arrived in Atlanta he was immediately compared to Tom Glavine.  He’s been a work in progress but improvements have been obvious every season.  He struggled in the first half of 2012 (5.97 ERA and 1.424 WHIP) but from the All Star break forward he started to look more like his feet fit those shoes. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half posting a 2.16 ERA and a 0.870 WHIP. September in particular was a good month for Mike, he was 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA and 0.710 WHIP. That had everyone watching the closely at the beginning of 2013. He carried on without a hitch finishing this season with a superb performance against the Dodgers in the NLDS. On the season he threw 204 2/3 innings with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.090 WHIP. Mike’s improved in every season so far but it’s hard to see how he could top last year. I expect he too will turn in a similar performance with similar numbers as a result.

 Julio Teheran

Teheran was a tough one for me. A lot of things worry me when I watch him pitch and that colors my view of his future. In my view he is not a top of the rotation pitcher, his stuff is good but not dominant, his build and motion plus the number of pitches he’s thrown in his young career add up to TJ surgery in his future and he’s not shown himself able to control his emotions on the mound. When he’s focused and everything is flowing well he can look like a number one then something breaks his rhythm and suddenly he’s lost location and timing. Fredi Gonzalez tried to pair him with Gerald Laird when he could, as they worked together in spring training and developed a rapport. When Brian McCann returned that became harder to do but didn’t appear as necessary; more on that later. Even with Laird behind the dish Teheran seemed to wander a bit and Laird would have to go out and get him back on track. Keeping those two paired shouldn’t be a problem this year with Evan Gattis and Laird splitting the catching duties but it is still an issue.

Teheran started the year struggling and ended it in a similar fashion. His first seven games saw him give up 21 runs in 41 1/3 innings for a 4.57 ERA and a 1.358 WHIP. His last six games produced 17 earned runs in 36 2/3 innings for a 4.17 ERA mostly due to the long ball as his WHIP was a puny 0.900. In the 17 games between those two rough patches (beginning right after McCann returned coincidentally) however he was a much better pitcher. He threw 107 2/3 innings allowing only 28 earned striking out 106 while walking just 26. That equates to a 2.34 ERA backed with a 1.068 WHIP. So, which pitcher do we project?

Ever the optimist, I put his rocky opening to trying to do too much to prove himself ready and his weak finish to wearing down at the end of a long season. He had after all pitched winter ball.  I’m hoping that another year under his belt and an improved conditioning program eliminate those issues and he take the next step forward this season. So with my rose colored glasses firmly in place I look for a breakout year for Julio in 2014.

*ZIPS WAR is calculated differently than the other two (no surprise there) and is technically zWAR.

That’s a Wrap

At the beginning of this piece I said the rotation resembled the one the Braves fielded when the streak began and I placed Medlen, Minor and Teheran in that box with the caveat that I absolutely do not think of them in the same terms as those future Hall of Fame pitchers. The current rotation bears one distinct similarity to the one that started the run way back in 91. Medlen, Minor, Wood and Beachy are bulldogs on the mound, they hate to lose and aren’t going to give in. In that rotation as well was Steve Avery who from 91-93 was 47-25 with a 3.17 ERA and a 1.199 WHIP in 667 1/3 innings (105 starts.) winning 18 games twice.  We have in the wings raring to go Beachy who could well slide into the box alongside the three I wrote about today.  Then there’s Woody who did superb work as a starter and from the bullpen.  I admit that my projections – particularly for Teheran-are optimistic. I believe however that they are attainable if the rotation stays healthy and the lineup can find some consistency. That’s my take, I’m sure you have one as well and I’d like to hear it.