As of this morning the Atlanta Braves are 12-14, 4.0 games back of the New York Mets in third place in the National League East. With all the transactions that President of Baseball Operations John Hart made this offseason, I’m okay with the Braves hovering around .500 at the moment and behind only New York and the Washington Nationals, two teams that I thought were playoff teams going into 2015. Statistically the Braves are middle of the pack in most team categories. However, there is one area where Atlanta has to improve: the walks need to stop.
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Atlanta walks the third most batters in all of baseball (98 in 26 games) behind only Philadelphia and Toronto. These extra free passes have inflated the team’s ERA to 4.28, third worst in the National League behind the Colorado Rockies and the Milwaukee Brewers. Colorado plays half their games in the thin air of Coors Field and Milwaukee who after a horrible start to 2015 have already fired their former manager Ron Roenicke and replaced him with Craig Counsell. That’s not good company for the Atlanta Braves to keep especially given their history of pitching excellence.
The Braves starters are improving but their high pitch counts are preventing them from going deep into ball games. A lot of that has to do with going into deep counts regularly and the rise in free passes. Where it has been the most troubling for the Braves has been in their bullpen.
I realize that youth and inexperience will be an issue for the Braves ‘pen all season long as four of the guys hanging out with Eddie Perez beyond the right-centerfield wall are rookies. Atlanta has already DFA’d Top 30 prospect Juan Jaime and seems to have new guys coming up from Gwinnett I’ve never heard of every series.
In the four game set with the Cincinnati Reds, I distinctly remember Fredi Gonzalez pulling out RHP Michael Kohn after walking just one guy. Apparently one was enough for Fredi. Kohn has electric stuff but misses the plate all the time. He doesn’t pitch to contact as he either strikes batters or walks them.
What’s frustrating the most about the walks coming in abundance from the Braves pitching staff is that it prevents the above-average Atlanta defense from having opportunities to make plays. The team’s FIP is actually higher than its ERA, 4.45 FIP to 4.26 ERA. Why this is problematic is that when opposing batter’s hit balls to the gap or over the fence, runners are usually on base. With this 2015 Atlanta Braves team, you have to take the good with the bad to get through this year of transition. While I love the veteran free agents signings made by John Hart in the offseason, I’m having a hard time stomaching the high dosage of Atlanta free passes.