With elbow sore, will Mike Foltynewicz be ready for Atlanta Braves Opening Day?

Mike Foltynewicz is scratched from his planned start on Friday while other Atlanta Braves pitchers are also dealing with soreness themselves

The Atlanta Braves scratched RHP Mike Foltynewicz from Friday’s start due to a soreness that he said he felt during his last start (last Sunday). Manager Brian Snitker the team is only taking caution but had this been during the season, Foltynewicz wouldn’t have missed a start. However, should we worry?

You never want to hear about an injury/issue but elbow issues are usually never good. Foltynewicz has become the ‘all but announced’ starter for Opening Day after a break-out season in 2018. He’s expected to continue to rise as the team’s leader/ace in 2019 but will this affect that?

According to Snitker, it’s too early to tell. If it’s just sore, it can go away, it’s when it starts to feel uncomfortable or hurting when it’s a big problem.

So far, Foltynewicz has made that one start this spring and did well. He pitched two innings against the Houston Astros, allowed 2 hits, a walk and an unearned run while striking out 1.

Last season, Foltynewicz really established himself, or at least showed the potential, as a frontline starter. In 31 starts (183 innings), the 27-year-old pitched to a 2.85 ERA and earned himself an All-Star spot and landed 8th in NL Cy Young voting.

Projections have him continuing success, but not as good as 2018, while some fans on twitter fear it might be a down year for him.

However, elbow issues and arm issues, in general, may have been more common for Foltynewicz than we thought, but like Snitker suggested, he just kept pitching through them.

There was also the scary time Foltynewicz was hospitalized due to blood clots back in 2015. David O’Brien also mentioned 2016 when Foltynewicz was placed on the DL due to a bone chip in his elbow and last June due to triceps tightness.

Braves Pitching Hitting A Few Bumps

So as much as some of us worry about Mike Soroka‘s shoulder, maybe add Folty to the list. With that being said, Foltynewicz wasn’t the only name mentioned on Thursday to be dealing with some soreness.

O’Brien also tweeted out that RHP Kevin Gausman and LHP Luiz Gohara are dealing with soreness in their shoulders. Both have yet to make their spring debuts for 2019 and it seems they’ll have to wait some more.

Gausman was acquire in July last season and immediately became a strong weapon for the Braves rotation. After having a 4.43 ERA in the first half with the Orioles and overall not-so-stellar 6 years with them, the 28-year-old found new life with the Braves. Some even said he could be the next Jake Arrieta when he went from the Orioles to the Cubs and became an elite pitcher and CY winner in the NL.

Gohara has been working his way to re-establish himself as a top prospect and potential member in rotation or bullpen. I talked more about his journey from multiple obstacles in 2018 to trying to prove the doubters in 2019 in another article that you can read here.

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Both, if healthy, can be key pitchers for the Braves in 2019 but they’ll need to start getting in games soon. Mark Bowman says both are throwing but the team are going easy with the both of them.

So What Now?

At this point, Foltynewicz is the presumed starter for Opening Day but if he isn’t good to go, and Gausman isn’t either…is the next name down the list Julio Teheran? Could we see consecutive start number 6 for the 28-year-old?

I’m sure many had the same opinion as mine that last year was the last opening day start for Teheran, but with all of this, does it still sound crazy?

Or is Snitker and fellow coaches willing to give it to Sean Newcomb, who’s still green but showed in numerous starts he’s ready (like the near no-no and the NLDS start)? This spring, Newcomb has pitched 2 hit-less innings including a strikeout.

Or will Alex Anthoupoulos shift gears into getting a frontline starter now? O’Brien suggests maybe AA will.

So what do you think, is the rotation at a point of panic now or is it still too early to tell? I think it’s still early but think Braves made the right call to be cautious.