Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Growing Pains, Rumor Sorting

Braves’ offense capitalizes on a rookie starter… unfortunately, so did the Reds.  The difference?  Walks.

Aaron Blair is having trouble getting over that speed bump between AAA and the majors.  The difference is rather dramatic, in fact:

• AAA with Arizona in 2015:  3.16 ERA, 7-2 in 77 innings (27 walks)
• AAA with Atlanta in 2016:  1.64 ERA, 3-0 in 22 innings (8 walks)
• Majors:  7.59 ERA, 0-4 in 40 innings (25 walks)

In addition, he’s been homer prone (1.12 homer rate, vs. 0.58/0.41 in AAA) and is having trouble with damage control in general (58% strand rate).

But that’s going to be the case with rookies getting acclimated to the majors – the good ones will adjust, get back out there, and compete again and again.  Blair is a good one and he will overcome this speed bump.  He’s still just 24 and there’s more to come.

The Horse He Arodys in On

Of more concern is Arodys Vizcaino.  One hit, one strikeout, and 3 walks plated the winning run for the Reds last night.  That’s 3 poor outings in recent days:

• Cincy, 6/13:  bad
• Cubs, 6/10:  good
• Padres, 6/8:  good
• Padres, 6/7:  bad
• LAD,  6/5:  good
• SFG, 6/1:  good
• SFG, 5/30:  bad

Even with the bad outings, there had never been more than one walk in any appearance this year – save for 2 walks during a 4 out save on April 15th.  That’s why the 3 walks from last night were such a head-scratcher.

He should be good to pitch again tonight if necessary: we’ll see how that works out if it happens.

Next: Trade Noises