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Atlanta Braves: Kyle Wright Makes Strong Statement to Be in Rotation

By Jake Mastroianni

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 26: Kyle Wright #73 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch to Michael Conforto #30 of the New York Mets in the eight inning on September 26,2018 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 26: Kyle Wright #73 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch to Michael Conforto #30 of the New York Mets in the eight inning on September 26,2018 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Tuesday’s game against the New York Yankees didn’t feel like a normal Spring Training game for the Atlanta Braves. There was a lot on the line for Kyle Wright.

With all of the injuries and lackluster outings from other starting pitchers in the Atlanta Braves rotation, Kyle Wright made a huge statement on Tuesday.

Going up against a lot of the regulars for the New York Yankees, Wright tossed three scoreless innings allowing just 2 hits and no walks with 3 strikeouts.

The outing was not only huge for Wright, but for the Atlanta Braves as well. The former fifth overall draft pick displayed the potential that made him such a high pick.

His stock in the Braves’ farm system had a taken a little bit of a hit with some moving Ian Anderson and Touki Toussaint ahead of him. Of course, being the third best pitching prospect for the Atlanta Braves is nothing to feel bad about.

But on Tuesday Wright showed why some believe he can be a top of the rotation pitcher for a long time.

His fastball was regular sitting between 94-95, and he was able to dot the corner at the knees.

The pitch that he really had working on Tuesday was his change-up. He constantly had hitters off balance with the 82 MPH offering causing them to reach for pitches and pop them up.

In the first inning he threw a perfect pitch to Aaron Judge on a 1-2 pitch that should have struck him out, but it was called a ball. He later froze him on a 3-2 pitch for the strikeout.

Later in the inning he struck out Luke Voit with a fastball at the letters.

The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher also didn’t a walk a batter, which is rare against a Yankees lineup that gets the benefit of the doubt on a  lot of calls it seems.

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After giving up a lead off single in the second on a lazy fly ball off the end of the bat, he fell behind 3-1 on Gary Sanchez before coming back to induce a ground out.

Overall, it was a very strong outing for Wright and if the season started today he would firmly be in the rotation.

Also from Tuesday’s game…

Dansby Swanson made his spring debut and had two really good at-bats.

In his first at-bat he smoked a ball back up the middle that bounced off the pitcher and went straight to the shortstop who threw him out. Later he got that first hit with another solid stroke to right field.

The first four innings for the Atlanta Braves were very encouraging. After that, it got ugly.

Next. Should the Atlanta Braves keep or trade Julio Teheran?. dark

But overall it was a very good day for the Atlanta Braves with Wright looking sharp on the mound and Dansby making solid contact at the plate.

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