Dallas Keuchel set to make Atlanta Braves debut Friday, what to expect

The Atlanta Braves are expected to have recently signed free agent pitcher Dallas Keuchel make his 2019 debut on Friday against the Washington Nationals.

Dallas Keuchel signed a one-year $13 million deal with the Atlanta Braves a couple of weeks ago and has made two Minor League starts since then.

In his last start, which came with Double-A Mississippi, he threw 101 pitches and came out of that start looking strong and feeling good.

While it still hasn’t been announced by the team, it would make sense that Keuchel’s next start would be with the big league club.

When his signing was announced, Keuchel and the Atlanta Braves agreed that he would be recalled to the Major Leagues no later than June 18.

Had his first Minor League start not been pushed back a couple of days, he might have met that date. But instead, it looks like his first start with the Atlanta Braves will come on June 21.

What to expect

I already wrote about 5 things Keuchel brings to the Atlanta Braves, but let’s talk more about what we can expect from him on the mound.

The left-handed pitcher relies heavily on his devastating sinker that generates a groundball 70 percent of the time that pitch is put in play.

With our infield defense, I expect him to get a lot of easy groundball outs. The only thing that scares me here is we don’t always position ourselves the best on defense on the infield.

He also throws a slider in the high 70s, low 80s that Keuchel will use as his strikeout pitch.

Keuchel also throws a cutter, change-up, and fourseam fastball.

All of his pitches generate a lot of downward movement, which helps keep the ball on the ground.

He’s never given up more than 20 home runs in a season, so he knows how to keep the ball in the park.

The only problem with a groundball pitcher is that sometimes those groundballs are going to find holes.

I think that’s what we saw in his outing with Mississippi when he gave up 11 hits, but he was able to navigate around them because only two of them went for extra bases, and he only issued one walk.

So expect games where Keuchel has a lot of traffic on the bases, but he’s a veteran that knows how to work out of those jams. And he’s always a well-placed groundball away from getting a double-play and ending a threat.

Don’t forget, Keuchel has a lot of motivation to put up great numbers. Much like Josh Donaldson, he’s hoping to re-establish his market value before becoming a free agent again.

I expect to get a quality start from Keuchel just about every time he takes the mound. He’ll compete and gives this powerful offense a chance to win every time he takes the mound.