How Many Pitchers Do the Atlanta Braves Have Now?

Aug 11, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (33) looks on while calling the bullpen in the dugout at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The biggest trade piece has been traded, and we got… more pitchers:

Don't know if they'll be competitive in '16 or get where they want to be in '17, but can say Braves have more pitching prospects than anyone
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) November 13, 2015

#Braves Coppy: There wasn't a big impact bat out on the trade market as they discussed Simmons trade. Teams reluctant to move those hitters.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) November 13, 2015

How many now? An amazingly deep list, actually. Using the MLB Pipeline listing as a starting point, here they are by arm and most recent level completed:

Sean Newcomb – LHP / AA
Touki Toussaint – RHP / A
Kolby Allard – LHP / GCL

So What About These Guys?

A couple of notes of interest:

Regarding the new arrivals (Newcomb and Ellis): I have seen a lot of lofty projections for them overnight – especially for Newcomb. Regardless of the hype, neither of these guys will live up of the hype unless their control improves. If so, then the sky is the limit… but until that happens, it will be an issue. That will tend to explain my own temperament regarding this trade.
I have said the same for Lucas Sims this summer. In the past 2-3 months, there are signs of improvement. He’s not pinpointing his pitches yet, but he’s a lot closer and that’s allowing his stuff to work better. I don’t want to suggest I’m directly comparing Sims to Clayton Kershaw here, but Kershaw is actually slightly wild – all over the strike zone. With his velocity and movement, he gets away with it. Sims seems to be roughly at the point of doing a similar thing, and his ‘stock’ is now bouncing back as a result.

Greg Maddux was once quoted as berating a group of Spring Trainees after witnessing their side-sessions by saying something like this: “Know why I make $10 million a year? It’s because when I pitch, I know where the ball is going!” That happens via consistency and by knowing how to make adjustments when things aren’t perfect on a given day.

You can continue down this list of prospects and point to pitchers with the same issue: Foltynewicz, Banuelos to some extent, Toussaint to a greater extent. Grosser, Cabrera, Thurman (who suddenly avoided the strike zone once he hit AA)… if there’s a prospect with “risk”, that risk is chiefly about command. Some will get it; some will not.
Mike Minor is on this list, but might not be for much longer. He had yet another rehab setback recently, and may not be able to demonstrate much to the club that has to make the call on whether to offer him roughly $5 million to stay behind a tomahawk. That deadline is only about 3 weeks away now.

WHO ARE THE VIABLE ROTATION OPTIONS?

Teheran
Miller
Wisler
Perez
Weber
Banuelos
Jenkins
(possibly) Newcomb
(less possibly) Sims

Next: The Pain Will Subside... Eventually

So there are now nine rotation candidates, after removing Minor. It would be good to have at least seven of them ready to go in Spring if necessary. That leaves open the possibility of trading 1-2 for a bat. Maybe. Hopefully. Despite the assessment from above. One starter plus one prospect should be sufficient.

Can we do that?

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How Many Pitchers Do the Atlanta Braves Have Now?

By Alan Carpenter | Nov 13, 2015

More from Tomahawk Take

So What About These Guys?

WHO ARE THE VIABLE ROTATION OPTIONS?