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The Braves Bullpen Suddenly in Trouble Without Chris Martin

By Jake Mastroianni

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 04: Chris Martin #55 of the Atlanta Braves leaves the mound with a team trainer after suffering an injury during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on April 4, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Braves 2-1.(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 04: Chris Martin #55 of the Atlanta Braves leaves the mound with a team trainer after suffering an injury during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on April 4, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Braves 2-1.(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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Suddenly there are some cracks in the Atlanta Braves bullpen with righty Chris Martin out for the foreseeable future. Are they in trouble? 

We knew coming into the season that the Atlanta Braves bullpen was very left-handed heavy. It wasn’t a major concern for me because Will Smith, A.J. Minter, and Tyler Matzek have good enough stuff to get out lefties and righties.

But with Chris Martin banged up, it really showed the issue with the lack of depth in right-handed pitching.

In a big spot in Tuesday’s game, the Braves were forced to go with Josh Tomlin as the righty to face Trea Turner.

Tomlin got the out, but he’s not exactly the guy you want coming in to face tough righties late in the game.

Luke Jackson and Nate Jones are the next best options.

The Braves have called up Jacob Webb for the double-header on Wednesday, and I’m hoping he stays on the roster going forward.

The bullpen as a whole has been pretty good this year if you just look at the numbers. They currently have a 1.69 ERA in 10.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.31.

It just seems like they’ve been worse because the margin for error has been so slim with the Braves’ offense struggling, so the bullpen has two losses on the season already.

But their big four (Smith, Minter, Matzek, and Martin) have allowed 3 of the 4 earned runs giving up by the bullpen. And they’ve given up 12 hits and issued 5 walks in 7 innings pitched — that’s a 2.43 WHIP.

That’s far too many base runners, again, when the margin for error is so slim late in these games.

The 12 strikeouts those four have racked up certainly help in getting out of those jams. But with that much traffic on the bases, all it takes is a little bloop to bring home a run, and that’s happening far too frequently to the Braves in the early going.

I’m not concerned with this bullpen, and they have the third-best ERA in baseball. Pitching is not the problem in the early going, it’s just magnified when the bullpen allows a run because these games are so close.

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Still, the Braves need to find another back-end right-handed reliever at some point during the season to help back up Chris Martin. Webb could be that guy if given the chance.

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