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Atlanta Braves: reliever targets with ‘control’ for the trade deadline

By Alan Carpenter

ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 05: Brian Snitker #43 of the Atlanta Braves walks out to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies at SunTrust Park on June 5, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 05: Brian Snitker #43 of the Atlanta Braves walks out to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies at SunTrust Park on June 5, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The other day we talked about the reason that Atlanta might want starter Nate Eovaldi from Tampa Bay:  he doesn’t walk anybody.  Let’s apply that idea to the bullpen.

By my reckoning, I would argue that the Atlanta Braves need not just 1, but 2 new relief pitchers for the stretch run.

Simply stated, the problem is that many of those that Atlanta has run out to the mound in late innings have put too many runners on base.  Moreover, many of these hitters are getting on without having earned the privilege… okay, unless you count the work involved in recognizing when a pitch isn’t worthy of a swing.

The Braves have used 19 different relief pitchers thus far in 2018.  That number will continue to go up until they can find somebody who can throw strikes.

Here’s the tale of the tape for the worst offenders:

That leaves only Vizcaino, Carle, Winkler, Gohara, and Wisler under 3.5 walks per 9 innings.  Minter still seems better than his 3.62 rate would suggest, but as for the rest above…only Jesse Biddle has a WHIP (Walks+Hits per Inning Pitched) that’s under 1.30, so there’s simply a lot of extra base-runners that this crew has been giving up.

Who’s Better?

On the flip side, there are 223 bullpen pitchers who had thrown 20+ innings in the majors (to date) this season.  Here is a list of those who are playing for non-contending teams that have a walk rate under 2.00:

For the purposes of this exercise, I assume Oakland is not selling.

Okay, that’s a wall of numbers and I apologize for that.  But concentrate on the pitchers with the lower WHIP figures – especially 1.15 and less.  These are the guys the aren’t putting runner on via walks or hits…. exactly what the Braves need.

Now there may be other considerations for a given player that I don’t have listed.  For example, Darren O’Day had hamstring surgery recently and he’s done for the year… but I didn’t go through each game log to verify that all are healthy.

The Braves don’t necessarily need a “name” guy to fill these roles, but they do need pitchers who can consistently have shutdown innings, for that’s been a problem.

That said, pitchers like Zach Britton did not make this list.  He has been struggling to get back into form since returning from his 2017 Achilles injury, though recent reports suggest that he is improving quickly.

When healthy and pitching at the top of his game (2014-16), Britton had a walk rate that averaged around 2.3 per 9 innings – while averaging ERA’s around 1.4.  I would not rule him out yet by any means.

Are We Missing Something?

More from Tomahawk Take

What’s also interesting about this list is the number of repeated teams named:  Padres, Rangers, Orioles, Twins, Pirates, Giants and Cardinals among them.

The first Braves’ hurler didn’t show up until the 54th-ranked slot (Winkler; 20 innings min.).  The next one is Carle at 105 (of 223 overall).

It might therefore be a fair question to ask what they know that the Braves’ don’t.  Atlanta has definitely seen multiple starting pitchers turning corners this season (Folty, Newcomb, Toussaint, Allard, others), but the relievers seem to be struggling more.

This post is intended to be a conversation starter.  I propose no trade lash-ups here, nor make any suggestions on how difficult it might actually be for Atlanta to acquire any of these bullpen arms… or whether they might want to let a few pass.

I can say this, though:  for a team that ranks 27th overall in bullpen walk rate (though 13th in WHIP), something needs to change.

Simply picking out relief pitchers based on pounding the strike zone is not an ‘end all/be all’ criteria… (Craig Kimbrel has a 0.90 WHIP with a 3.58 walk rate this year)… but the idea of making hitters earn their way to 1st base would certainly help the Braves.

Next: Another strike machine

One new arm just isn’t going to get it done, either, for those numbers suggest that Brian Snitker is relying a lot on the “non-walkers” for myriad innings.  They probably will have trouble keeping up that pace this Summer, and that’s why 2 more bullpen arms are needed.

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