Atlanta Braves: how 15 years of veteran 5th starters have fared

1 of 11

SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 26: Felix Hernandez #34 of the Seattle Mariners walks off the field on September 26, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /

There might be some guidance in how Felix Hernandez fares as we look at the history of pitchers the Atlanta Braves have signed to similar roles.

The fifth starter. It’s a spot in the rotation that teams would normally like to fill with an up-and-coming prospect, but some clubs – like the Atlanta Braves – have historically had some difficulty in executing that plan.

This can happen for a number of reasons:

There’s no pitcher ready to step into that role
There’s a concern about innings load
The team can’t risk that slot to a rookie when they are supposed to be a contender
Injuries hurt the rotation depth

As such, the Atlanta Braves have routinely signed a lower-cost veteran to come in and be a competitor for the back of their rotation for the purpose of simply being an ‘innings eater’ – someone who can be relied upon to stabilize the position with the hope that the club can win around him.

While such veterans will occasionally go out and have a brilliant game here and again, it isn’t a big priority that they do so with any kind of regularity. In fact, an ERA in the 4’s is often a good-enough goal for these players.

With the arrival of Felix Hernandez on such a contract (a minor league deal), let’s take a walk through the history of such pitchers through the past 15 seasons and see how that has worked out for the Braves.

The criteria for selecting these players is at least 2 or 3 of the following:

signed to a minor league deal
signed as a starter
aging veteran with past record of success elsewhere
acquired after the beginning of spring training
acquired after an event that created a need

There’s likely a few left out since there were several whose names were difficult to locate after they failed to make the club out of Spring… or they were omitted for categorical reasons.

So for example: Jaime Garcia did not make the list, as he was acquired via trade in December 2016 – intended to be a better-than-5th-starter. Likewise for Bartolo Colon, who was signed a month before Garcia.

Scott Linebrink? He was a reliever: in 607 career appearances, he started just 6 times – none for the Braves (2011).

Below is the list researched in the following pages (in no particular order). Despite the omissions, you might be surprised at just how many pitchers we’re talking about here:

Let’s take a look at the results:

Home/Braves History