2017 MLB Season: 5 Atlanta Braves Players That Could Surprise

It’s that time of year again. That time where hot takes are rampant and everyone has their season predictions. I should probably refrain from doing season predictions, being such a “homer” and all, but nothing can stop me.

Throwing all caution to the wind, per usual, I have taken it upon myself to reveal five Atlanta Braves players who I think could surprise folks in 2017.

Per the title of this column, I am going to assume that the five who are mentioned are the sort of guys who most folks don’t expect to exceed expectations or “surprise.”

Braves Starting Pitcher Mike Foltynewicz

The year of 2017 is a “make or break” year for Folty and I’m deeming it “The Year of Folty.” In an era when the Atlanta Braves don’t give out many extra chances (they don’t have to – look at their farm), Folty has an estimated one year to show the Braves that he’s a stud.

Folty enters his 2017 campaign with a much needed third pitch – the change up. Sometimes, when you don’t have a third pitch, the lineup adjusts way too quickly to you, as we saw with Folty last season.

It’s been said by coaches and scouts that Folty has better stuff than just about anybody. But the question surrounding Folty has always been – Can he handle the pressure and command his pitches? If Spring Training is any indication of where Folty could be heading, Braves fans are in for a good ride this summer. This Spring Training he posted a 2.66 ERA and 18 Ks in 23.2 IP. The Atlanta Braves, and their fans, are hoping that this is the “real Folty.”

I think Folty is finally finding himself as a pitcher. Expect domination from him in 2017.

Braves Outfielder Matt Kemp

“Oh here we go, Josh. Not another Matt Kemp rant.” Listen. Somebody had to do it. I got sick and tired of everyone and their mother talking about how terrible Matt Kemp was and I had to do something about it. I used the good ole fashioned home run (also known as a “mammo” in some circles) and a one-year sample size to make my declaration. It was kind of like the “Art of the Deal” philosophy. You ask for the moon and then settle for something in between. And I accomplished my goal, I think. While lots of folks disagreed with me, chastised me, called me everything under the sun, I think I brought to light the fact that Matt Kemp is a wonderful power-hitting corner outfielder. Nothing more. Nothing less. Sue me.

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Last year, just to beat a dead horse here, Matt Kemp hit the most home runs of any outfielder in the National League. I understand that that’s not really a category, but I don’t care. The fact of the matter is simple. The Atlanta Braves’ lineup got better when Kemp was injected into it and the guy hits lots of homers and drives in runs. And homers are good. When a batter hits a homer, it’s at least one automatic run for that guy’s team. And then the team with the most runs wins the baseball game.

Expect Kemp to do what he did last year offensively, while lowering his strikeouts, and improve his defense. Does he hit 35 again? Or does he hit 30? Either is fine by me, really. He’s certainly no Cespedes in LF, but expect to see a better defender than you saw in 2016. (And to be honest, his defense in 2016 wasn’t actually that bad.)

Now that I’m writing this, if Matt Kemp does do what I just said he is going to do, it might not actually surprise any of you SABR nerds, since home runs and RBI don’t matter. Why am I even writing this?

Braves Pitching Prospect Patrick Weigel

I understand that this is a leap, and that this article is about Atlanta Braves players and that Weigel doesn’t play for the Atlanta Braves yet. I get it. But he’ll be up sooner than you think. As in – this year.

Weigel hasn’t pitched above Double-A ball (not including a little bit of Spring Training action this year). Just before the Rome Braves made their historic playoff run last year, Wags was promoted to Double-A Mississippi where he posted a 2.18 ERA in 20 IP. Before that, he led the South Atlantic League in strikeouts.

Weigel is already on Mississippi’s Opening Day roster, where he should be right now, but don’t expect him to be there for very long. Look for the club to move him up to Gwinnett around mid-summer, or heck, all the way to SunTrust while skipping Gwinnett altogether. Gwinnett, and Triple-A in general, has really become sort of a holding cell for fringe MLB vets and a few prospects here and there. But, Gwinnett or no Gwinnett, expect him in the bigs this year.

Weigel will be 23-years-old in July and came to the Braves with some legit college experience. So if Weigel continues to dominate, it wouldn’t be weird for the club to call him up this season. If everything goes accordingly, I fully expect to see him in SunTrust around July or August. That soon.

To give you a quick reminder – Wags throw in the upper 90’s, hitting triple digits on occasion. He’s 6’-6”, 220 pounds, throws hard, with movement, and has control. To say that I’m excited about Patrick Weigel is an understatement. I don’t care about Sean Newcomb and I’m not sure why Lucas Sims hasn’t been traded yet. Give me Patrick Weigel or give me nothing.

Braves Relief Pitcher Josh Collmenter

The Braves landed Collmenter towards the end of last season from the Cubs in exchange for cash when they finally realized that Williams Perez can’t play baseball. It is of my belief that Josh Collmenter simply had a bad start to his 2016 campaign (just one year after he was the D-Backs’ Opening Day starter) at which point Arizona panicked and released him prematurely.

From 2011-2015 Josh Collmenter posted a 3.49 ERA as a starter. When 2016 came around, he had some bad starts, at which point the Arizona Diamondbacks replaced him with Allen Webster who ended his 2016 campaign with a 5.81 ERA. Bad move on Arizona’s part, if you ask me.

When Josh landed in Atlanta at the end of 2016, he posted a 2.37 ERA in a small 19 innings sample size. He’ll enter this season in the bullpen, but if anything happens to a starter (like, let’s say R.A. Dickey forgets how to pitch around May or June) Collmenter could be the best option to jump into the rotation. At the very least, assuming my theory is correct, Collmenter will be a very effective long reliever and give folks yet another reason to laugh at the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Braves Starting Pitcher Jaime Garcia

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know my feelings about the Jaime Garcia trade. I was distraught. Not because I don’t like Jaime Garcia, but because I think Luke Dykstra is just downright awesome. But all of that is history now.

Jaime Garcia is not sexy. He’s not very exciting. He’s not even that much fun to write about. What he is is a very good big-league starter, which the Atlanta Braves needed going into this season. While I’ll always miss my boy Luke, this was a very smart trade for the Braves.

Garcia has a bad reputation of getting injured a lot, so a lot of his success in 2017 could hinge on his ability to stay healthy. I’ll fully admit that Garcia did not have a good year in 2016, a year in which he was healthy, but being the optimistic “homer” I am, I’m going to predict that Garcia returns to pre-2016 form with the Atlanta Braves in 2017, much to the credit of Chuck Hernandez.

Next: Looking At What Tyler Flowers Can Do In 2017

If Jaime Garcia can stay healthy and throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 170 innings and post a 3.50 ERA, this will be a good surprise for Braves fans.

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