Week 1 Hints – The Starting Pitching Race
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It’s still
very
early, and performances will certainly change things, but let’s try to read between the fuzzy lines that
have
been drawn already and guess where things are going for that 5th starter’s role.
INDICATOR #1 – ORDER.
The Braves have released a schedule for their starters for the first few Spring games, which begin on Wednesday. Mark Bowman’s tweets filled in a gap or two:
- WED., MAR 4 – Wandy Rodriguez, Chien-Ming Wang (Home/NYM)
- THR., MAR 5 – Julio Teheran, Eric Stults (Away/DET)
- FRI., MAR 6 – Alex Wood (Home/WSH)
- SAT., MAR 7 vs. DET – Shelby Miller (Home)
- SAT., MAR 7 vs. NYM – Michael Foltynewicz (Away)
- SUN., MAR 8 – Mike Minor (Away/HOU)
If you believe that the order of appearance matters, then Folty is behind. That said, he’s also getting a start. What might be more important will be learning who among the coaching staff is traveling to Port St. Lucie on Saturday to see him pitch, though it will be a first for them to see Shelby Miller in a live game as well.
Each starter – and the follow-on starters in the cases of Wang and Stults will likely be scheduled for 2 innings apiece. That will stretch by an inning at a time for each turn through the rotation. There are 4-1/2 weeks of Spring games before the season begins (April 6 in Miami).
INDICATOR #2 – BUZZ
- You could look at this as mere “deference to the veterans”, but having Wandy up to start the first game (with Stults in the next one) does seem to suggest that he would be in the rotation if the season started today.
- Having one pitcher start vs. another coming in for the third inning means nothing important at this point. The “main 4” rotation designees will have priority.
- Both Rodriguez and Stults have been mentioned by the beat writers as impressing Fredi Gonzalez early on. David O’Brien wrote this specifically on Wandy just last week.
- Mark Bowman mentioned Stults and Foltynewicz as “early favorites” for the starting slot, but that was on January 29th – well before anyone had reported to camp. There’s been nothing since.
- James Russell had been mentioned early on as wanting a shot as the rotation. That notion was nixed was back on February 5th.
All that said? So far it appears to be Wandy’s job to lose. But there’s a long way to go.
So now we need some games to see what happens against real hitters. But note that these will be limited-extent outings for a while, so even a good outing will mean little. Likewise, a bad outing probably isn’t a disqualifier, though given the number of pitchers vying for the role, there’s little margin for error.
One Final Note
Mike Minor gets to pitch against Evan Gattis (with his new full beard) and the power-hungry Astros lineup on Sunday. What could go wrong here?