Atlanta Braves Sign Ben Rowen — No More Peter Moylan?

Recently the Atlanta Braves signed reliever Ben Rowen to a minor league deal, which could signal the end of Peter Moylan in Atlanta.

In a very under-the-radar move over the weekend, the Atlanta Braves agreed to a minor league deal with relief pitcher Ben Rowen.

This probably was not the move a lot of Braves fans have been hoping for, but it is one that could be of significance.

Rowen is a 30-year-old right-handed pitcher who is known as a groundball specialist. He’s pitched just 11.2 innings at the major league level with a 6.94 ERA and 9 strikeouts.

But he’s had a lot of success at the minor league level in the past with a 2.37 ERA in 458.2 innings with a WHIP of 1.11 and a BB/9 of 1.9.

While it’s a small sample size, that success hasn’t translated to the big league level, yet.

G’day, mate

But the bigger picture here for Braves fans is that this could signal the end of Peter Moylan with the Braves.

The clubhouse favorite has spent nine seasons with the Braves, including the 2018 season where he had a 4.45 ERA in 28.1 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.77.

The 40-year-old righty struggled with injuries last year and could have already thrown his last major league pitch.

But if you trust Twitter, it sounds like the aussie is still hoping to get picked up by a team this offsesaon.

In all honesty, I love Moylan but I cringed every time he came out of the bullpen last year. It looks like his effectiveness at the major league level is over.

But you could have also said that in 2013 when he put up similar numbers. He came back in 2015 and was very effective for the past three seasons before 2018.

Still, what Moylan does best is induce groundballs, and that’s exactly what Bowen does.

Most teams tend to want to have one of those guys in their bullpen, but mostly in today’s game you want flamethrowers, so they definitely won’t carry two groundball specialists in their bullpen.

And there is no guarantee they will even have one, but if they do, it looks like it will be Bowen and not Moylan.

If the Atlanta Braves do decide to give Moylan another chance, it will also be on a minor league deal just like they gave Bowen. And then I think the two will audition during Spring Training to see if either can prove they can be effective against major league hitters.

The Atlanta Braves have been somewhat nostalgic lately about bringing former players back, and hopefully another former reliever will come back soon, but I don’t think that will be Moylan.