Atlanta Braves may run into an influx of starting pitching very soon
By Jeff Schafer
Braves could have influx of starting pitching extremely soon, what shall they do?
Okay, so let’s look ahead a bit with the Atlanta Braves starting pitching staff. It looks as though Anibal Sanchez is back to being healthy again (he may not be ready to return to ATL just yet – we’ll get to that), say Mike Soroka is good to go soon, and Gohara returning after visiting his mother, the Atlanta Braves would have seven starting pitchers…SEVEN.
The interesting date we’re looking at right now would be May 28th and May 29th. The Braves play a doubleheader on May 28 against the New York Mets. Right now, I believe the Braves are hoping that Sanchez will be ready by then.
BUT, in his first rehab start with the Gwinnett Stripers, Sanchez struggled badly. He lasted 3.2 innings, gave up eight hits, three walks and eight earned runs. Wow, that doesn’t look to good on paper.
Braves could call up Matt Wisler or Max Fried for this start. Or give the ball to Lucas Sims who is currently with the team in the bullpen.
Who starts the next day, May 29th, for the Braves is the question. Gohara would be next in line for the Braves, but it has already been made known that he’s going home to visit his mother, who underwent heart surgery this week in Brazil.
Could Soroka return from the 10-day DL by then? He’s dealing with right shoulder inflammation, but should be good to go. He went on the DL for precautionary reasons so should be okay with two weeks off — went on 10-day DL on May 17, retroactive to May 14.
Looking at the Braves rotation towards the end of May/early June
RHP Julio Teheran – 4-1 with a 4.17 ERA, 47 strikeouts, 24 walks
RHP Mike Foltynewicz – 3-3 with a 2.72 ERA, 62 strikeouts, 26 walks
RHP Brandon McCarthy – 4-2 with a 5.05 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 17 walks
LHP Sean Newcomb – 5-1 with a 2.39 ERA, 58 strikeouts, 24 walks
LHP Luiz Gohara – 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA, five strikeouts, two walks (only pitched in three games, seven innings)
RHP Mike Soroka – 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA, 15 strikeouts, four walks
RHP Anibal Sanchez – 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA, 14 strikeouts, six walks (only pitched in three games, two starts, 14 innings pitched)
It will be interesting to see what the Braves and Brian Snitker will do here. The old saying in baseball is things will work themselves out, but that’s no fun.
Four guys I’d love to keep in our rotation would be Folty, Newcomb, Gohara and Soroka. Teheran I don’t think is going anywhere so I’d bet he’d stay in there. That would leave veteran SP McCarthy on the sidelines. I don’t think the Braves would go to a six-man rotation, but hell at this point who knows.
Could the Braves find a trade partner for McCarthy? I’d hardly doubt that. Would he be okay with a bullpen role? Maybe? He’ll have two more starts — one against the Phillies and one versus the Mets — before these decisions will have to be made so we’ll see.
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Unfortunately, the decision may come down to Gohara and/or Soroka. It’s possible Gohara could go back to the pen, but I’d really liked to see the kid in our rotation.
The next part of the equation would be how long does Kolby Allard stay in Gwinnett? He’s been dominating Triple-A hitters so far in 2018. The 20-year-old holds a 2.02 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 13 walks. He’s currently 3-1 in his eight starts this year. Allard is definitely the next big prospect to join Atlanta at some point this season.