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Atlanta Braves Bullpen: Fixing with Ryans

By Benjamin Chase

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Braves Bullpen: How to Save It

The Braves bullpen has been struggling significantly lately. Over the weekend, Braves fans witnessed Donnie Veal give up 3 runs in 1 total inning (and on Monday was DFA’d), Jim Johnson give up 2 runs in an inning, and Brandon Cunniff give up 5 runs in 1/3 of an inning. Cunniff bounced back Saturday with a solid inning of pitching, as did Johnson.  While Cunniff’s poor day took an exceptional year to over a 4 ERA (it was 1.80 going into Thursday), Braves fans have rightly been concerned about the inconsistent bullpen all season. While there are a number of pitchers in the minors who could help, we’re going to look at two that could help, and possibly very soon.

Braves Bullpen: Ryan Kelly

The Braves signed Kelly as a minor league free agent before 2014. The Hilton Head, SC native moved up two levels last season, and he’s recently been promoted to Gwinnett after a very solid start to the 2015 season in Mississippi. Kelly has posted a combined 0.43 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a 20/6 K/BB ratio in 21 innings pitched on the season. He’s acted as Mississippi’s closer before his promotion to Gwinnett recently, though he’s already picked up a save in AAA in 2 appearances.

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Kelly is not overly intimidating on the mound. Baseball-Reference lists him at 6’2, 180, and while I’d say he’s probably more like 200, he’s still quite lean and not a guy who stands tall to intimidate hitters.

Kelly works with a fastball/slider combination. In viewing games this year, what I’ve seen of Kelly’s pitches is that his stuff moves well horizontally, but it doesn’t move a ton vertically. Kelly sits low- to mid-80s with his slider and low 90s with his fastball, so there’s not a ton of speed variance to a hitter’s eye, but his fastball has some cut/sink to hit as it moves slightly down and in on a right-handed hitter, and his slider has a little more break, moving down and toward the left-handed batter’s box.

Kelly works low in the zone, but very close to the zone, and his walk rates reflect this. He gets weak contact on the ground, which could be huge with the infield defense in Atlanta. With the lack of vertical break and velocity differential, Kelly isn’t a guy who really gets a ton of strikeouts, but he doesn’t hurt himself. In a discussion with Fred, he used Peter Moylan as a comparable, though Kelly is a bit more effective to lefties.

Braves Bullpen: Ryan Weber

Weber was drafted by the Braves in 2009 in the 22nd round, but his progression to the majors was jump-started in 2014, when his role in Mississippi was moved from the rotation to a “swing man” role in the bullpen. He made 13 starts in 32 appearances in 2014, and he’s continued with that sort of ratio in 2015, starting 4 times in 13 appearances.

He’s recently been promoted to Gwinnett as well, and his numbers are equally as impressive as Kelly’s. Weber has thrown 34 innings in his 13 appearances, sporting a 2.12 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and an incredible 27/2 K/BB ratio.

Weber is even less intimidating on the mound at 6′ and 180 lbs. listed on Baseball-Reference, though I’d be surprised if he is even 180. He’s a fairly small guy, but he has had very good results for sure.

Weber spent a lot of time in the minors trying to learn a third pitch to compliment a fastball that sits 88-91 and can touch 93 along with a very nasty slider.  He has the unique ability to throw his slider with break to both sides of the plate, and he gets incredibly weak contact based on the hitter rarely being able to guess slider and its location both.

Weber does pitch to contact with what has been described as a “boring” fastball. It isn’t straight, but it doesn’t have strong bite on its finish either, so Weber stays very low in the zone, often hanging out at a batter’s knees, using his fastball out of the zone high to adjust a pitcher’s eyes once in a while.

Weber seems to have a rubber arm, and he has a good delivery that should allow him to keep pitching as a swing man as he moves to the majors. His comparables aren’t exactly enthusiastic, but one recent guy with less control but similar stuff as Weber is Carlos Villanueva.

While that’s not a guy who blows you away, a reliever who can eat 3-4 innings if a starter is hit early or a game goes deep into extra innings is extremely valuable.

Braves Bullpen: Saving Bullpen Ryan?

Both Kelly and Weber got the call over Memorial Day weekend to come up to Gwinnett. They both have skill sets that would be very useful in the Atlanta pen right now, with Kelly being a guy who could help a lot in the 6th and 7th innings, and Weber being able to come in as the swing man in the bullpen. I’m a big fan of both guys in watching their pitching.

Certainly, if issues continue to arise with the bullpen, Kelly and Weber could merit their way onto the Atlanta roster, though it will more likely require a trade as neither is currently on the 40-man roster, so the Braves would have to remove someone from the 40-man roster to add Kelly and/or Weber to the 40-man.

As a last aside, for those Braves fans watching this bullpen and wondering if we’re going to see the Braves’ vaunted future rotation undone by a mediocre-to-poor bullpen, they need only look at the guys in the minor leagues.

Not necessarily guys like the other David Carpenter, who’s shown to really be a journey man, but guys with a chance to be high-velocity, high-upside stuff like new acquisition Chris Withrow, rule 5 pick Daniel Winkler, currently suspended Arodys Vizcaino, and Shae Simmons, currently recovering from Tommy John surgery.

There are also some very good pitchers like Kyle Kinman in the minor leagues who could make the major leagues as high-impact relievers. Of course, we also know that many of the best relievers are former starters, and the Braves will have a full rotation very quickly at the major league level.

Thanks for the read!

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