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Braves Add Ross Detwiler

By Fred Owens

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According to Ken Rosenthal the Braves added LHP Ross Detwiler to their list of post all star game signings.

Braves Add A Second Lefty

Following on yesterday’s news that the Braves signed Jason Frasor is news of  the Detwiler signing.  Braves fans will remember Detwiler as a back of the rotation starter for the Nationals from 2009 through 2014.  The Nationals had him in the rotation early in 2009 but he posted a 6.40 ERA and 1.750 WHIP that resulted in a trip back to the minors.

He returned at the end of August and had a bad outing in Colorado – we do know about those don’t we- before turning in seemingly finding the secret formula in September and posting a 1.90 ERA and 1.225 WHIP in five starts.

The 2010 season saw him back in the minors but the Nats recalled him in July to make three spot starts before being sent all the way back to A+ ball. He made one start there and was then bumped to AAA for one start before being brought back to the majors where he was used as a middle reliever and spot starter.

The 2011 season saw him once more back in the minors where he made 16 starts in AAA before being recalled to the Nationals in July.  He made one start in July then was shunted back to the bullpen until the August when he settled into a fifth starter slot.

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In the final two months he made nine starts posting a 3.20 ERA and a 1.283 WHIP (50 hits and 15 walks) in 50 2/3 IP striking out 31. While the ERA looks sounds the hit per inning pitched high and it calculates to be a 4.29 FIP. It was good enough however for the Nats to return him as a starter in 2012.

Detwiler spent the most of the 2012 season as a starter taking the bump 27 times posting a 3.58 ERA and 1.245 WIP in 151IP and started 2013 in the rotation. He made 13 starts that year posting a 4.04 ERA and 1.486 WHIP before first a strained oblique and then a lower back strain effectively ended his season.

The pitching rich Nationals put Detwiler in the bullpen for 2014.  In middle relief he appeared in 47 games posting a 4.00 ERA and 1.413 WHIP.

Detwiler always wanted to be a starter and made no secret of it. The Nationals of course had no room for him in the rotation this year so they traded him to the Rangers for a pair of minor leaguers. The Rangers were casting about for starters this spring after a rash of injuries decimated their rotation.

He pitched well enough to earn a rotation spot and made seven starts in the first two months of the season but the AL West wasn’t kind to him. In his 33 2/3 innings as a starter he went 1-6 posting a 6.95 ERA and the Rangers moved him to the bullpen. He didn’t have any better results as a reliever throwing just 9 1/3 innings in 10 appearances and posting a 7.71 ERA and last week the Rangers DFA’d him.

Pitch Selection

According to Fangraphs  features a four seam fastball that he throws about 44% of the time and a sinker that he uses about 33% of the time mixing in a slider, curve and change now and then. That repertoire suggests he’d be better used out of the bullpen. He’s a groundball pitcher about 45% of the time allowing line drives about 24% of the time and outfield fly balls about 33% of the time and over his career about 8%of those outfield fly balls turn into home runs. His problem in Texas was being in Texas.

While a Ranger the outfield fly ball rate increased to 40% and the HR/FB rate went up to 14.5% as well.  Now away from the hitter friendly Ballpark in Arlington – or Globe Life Field I guess it is now – those rates should return to his career norms.

That’s a Wrap

Both Jason Frasor and  Detwiler signed major league contracts and will join the Brave immediately the paperwork is done. Here’s how the roster’s been adjusted since the last time we saw the Braves.

Jason Grilli placed on the 15 60-day disabled list with a ruptured left Achilles
(I used a copy and paste from the Braves transaction page for this list yet this morning its says Grilli in on the 60 DL effective yesterday. That makes sense and I updated the list to reflect that.)

David Carpenter was designated for assignment.

Jake Brigham was optioned to Gwinnett

Ryan Kelly was recalled Gwinnett

Joey Terdoslavich was recalled from Gwinnett

The last move was of course designed to to provide a cushion with Freeman’s wrist being stubborn and slow to heal.

So stay tuned fans , we’ll see a lot of new faces tonight and over the next few days and I suspect a few more over the next couple of weeks.  As always we’ll keep you informed here at the Take.

Next: Still Fredi After All This Time

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