Atlanta Braves: Kyle Wright looks like tiny rock bass against the Marlins

Atlanta Braves young starting pitcher Kyle Wright imploded as the Marlins’ Pablo Lopez pitched Braves to fourth straight loss.

The last time Kyle Wright took the mound was Saturday, August 8, and the Atlanta Braves had nine wins.

Kyle Wright had shown signs of being a serviceable pitcher for the big-league club and we were all hoping to see progress.

However, there were some issues…

He had been struggling the second time through the order. In the minors, he was known for his propensity to attack the zone like a charging largemouth on an injured baby duck.

In the majors, though, he seems more like a tiny rock bass nibbling at a severed nightcrawler. Not even so much as nibbling, but more like giving it gentle kisses. You know those fish that are too small to even fit the hook in their mouths but they will snack on your bait until it’s gone? Like that.

Kyle Wright and the Second Time

Coming into the game, opposing hitters had an OPS of 1.425 off of Wright the second time they saw him in a game. Things did not get any better last night against the Marlins.

Marlins hitters started the game 1-7 with two walks and no runs scored of Wright. The second time through they went 1-3 with four walks.

Wright has a reputation for attacking the strike zone throughout the minor leagues but that hasn’t been the case when facing the grown men of the major leagues.  His fastball wasn’t even in play.

Kyle Wright (9.6 BB/9 IP)

Pablo Lopez, Wright’s counterpart last night for Miami, has just four walks in 16.0 innings this season. Last night, Wright walked six batters in just 3.0 innings. He matched Lopez’s season walk total in just the second time through the lineup last night, which he didn’t make it all the way through.

Kyle Wright has now walked more batters (16) than he has innings pitched (15) this season.

When Wright gets in trouble this season he virtually abandons his fastball. I don’t know what it is about these young Braves pitchers that cause them to lose faith in the heater, but we’ve seen Touki dealing with the same issues this season.

Right now the Braves don’t have a number two starter, they don’t even have a back-end of the rotation type of pitcher, who can go out and give you five or six innings and post a 4.50 ERA. The offense is good but if someone doesn’t step up or a move is not made, the team won’t be able to overcome this type of consistently bad starting pitching.

The Braves have some options, and we will continue to cover those at length at Tomahawk Take.

Atlanta Braves – Pitching is Hard

Don’t give up on Kyle Wright. It’s magnified now due to the short season. It’s easy to watch the game from home and throw our hands up in frustration over him not throwing strikes. We know he can do it, he’s done it at every other level of professional baseball.

It’s hard. The other day I hit my kid in batting practice three times and two of those were unintentional.

There’s still a lot to like about Wright. He has good stuff and performs well when he establishes his fastball in the zone (which usually comes in the first inning or two). Don’t forget that seven of his last nine innings have been scoreless.

I hope to see Wright get a few more opportunities to continue to develop at the major-league level.

One good outing can make it click mentally. Don’t give up on him. We need him.