Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: thoughts on Lucas Sims’ first outing

The Braves are scuffling again – losing 9 of their last 10 – with an offense that just isn’t working.  But that’s not what I want to talk about.

Brian Snitker loaded up the Atlanta Braves lineup with left-handed bats last night in the hopes they could get to the righty Kenta Maeda.

That didn’t work at all, as he no-hit Atlanta into the 5th inning and was not threatened at all through 7 shutout innings.

But these are the Dodgers, a team that’s now a staggering 75-31 and on pace for 106 wins.  The fact that Atlanta got this to a 3-2 final is somewhat remarkable (thank you Johan Camargo), and for virtually any other opponent, the outcome might have been a little different.

That’s because of Lucas Sims.

It wasn’t a perfect debut for the broad-shouldered Snellville right-hander, but on balance it was darned good.

The numbers went like this:

• 6 innings, 92 pitches – 62 for strikes.  That’s a good ratio.
• 3 strikeouts and no walks… the latter being of most importance.
• 6 hits and 3 earned runs allowed.  Again, think of who the opponent was.

This was a pitching night on both sides.  Maeda was brilliant and Sims was very nearly his equal in most respects, though at times it seemed the outcomes were simultaneously on the verge of greatness and the verge of disaster.

The Braves made multiple great fielding plays behind Sims – mostly Ender Inciarte, of course.  Sims got one himself on a great reaction to a liner hit right back at him.

The Braves also made 2 gaffes at third base – a position that in theory was to be bolstered by having Danny Santana – and later Sean Rodriguez – at the position.  One was ruled a hit, the other (not on Sims’ watch) an error.

The other error happened on a Yasiel Puig steal of third base.  He scored on the play, but the unearned run was changed to ‘earned’ with a likely sacrifice fly from the next hitter.  As an aside, I don’t like that scoring practice – the situation on the bases changed, which changes the approach to the next hitter, and possibly the outcome.

Sims threw to 3-ball counts against 5 hitters, though his efficiency improved over time. 19 pitches in the 1st inning, 17 in the 2nd.  By the time the 5th and 6th rolled around, those numbers were 15 (for 5 batters) and 8 for a 1-2-3 finish.

Here’s what to watch for:  every hit allowed by Sims came on a 2-strike count.  Even the 1 HBP he yielded was on an 0-2 pitch.

Of note:  7 balls were squared up and calls ‘line drives’… as I say, they’re a good mistake-hitting team.  But save for one pitch to Cody Bellinger, Sims kept the fly balls in the yard.

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Now this being the Dodgers, any mistake pitch was going to be punished, and that indeed happened.  But if Sims can command those 2 strike pitches better (many were ‘up’), then he could go ‘next level’ in a hurry.

He had movement on all of his offerings, he changed speeds… and credit to the TV broadcast crew (Paul Byrd and the booth guys) for noticing these things. His fastball (by Brooks’ baseball’s reckoning) averaged 92.6 mph (peaking at 94.3), changeup at 84.3, slider at 87 (or maybe a cutter) and curve at 77.

Sims could have been termed ‘effectively wild’, given the number of pitches outside the zone, but Maeda was too… and both starters had 9 swiss-and-miss strikes, with Sims getting them on virtually every pitch type he throws.

I hope Sims was pleased with this start – he should be.  This was a tough opponent and he held them at bay:  avoiding the big inning and keeping his team in the game.

In short, he looked like he belonged.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: When in Rome, Pitch as the Romans Do

Julio Teheran gets the ball tonight against Brock Stewart.  The Braves really need to break the bats out, and despite the 0.00 ERA in 16.2 innings, this could be an opportunity to do so.