Shelby Miller: The Atlanta Braves’ Newest Ace

In just seven starts since coming over to Atlanta from St. Louis in the Jason Heyward trade, RHP Shelby Miller’s pitching dominance has commanded Braves Country’s undivided attention.  Miller has located his fastball to perfection, allowing just 8 earned runs his 7 starts.

I knew that the Braves were getting a top end of the rotation guy when John Hart traded for Miller.  Shelby was the number two pitching prospect in all of baseball back in 2011, behind only Julio Teheran.  When Miller developed his sinker last summer, I could sense that everything was beginning to click for the hard-throwing Texan.

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Shelby Miller is quickly becoming the next ace pitcher for the Atlanta Braves organization.  Despite his recent struggles this season, Julio Teheran is still an ace.  A baseball team can have multiple aces.  Look at the Los Angeles Dodgers with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.  Or if you want to keep it Braves related, Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine were all aces at the same time.  The ace moniker just means that a pitcher would be the best starter on most staffs in the league.  Miller has always had this potential and it’s great that he is living up to in Atlanta and not St. Louis.  I still can’t believe the Braves traded away Adam Wainwright for JD Drew a decade ago!  Get well soon, Waino.

I believe that coming to Atlanta was the best thing for Miller’s big league career.  In St. Louis, Shelby was never going earn the title of an ace.  That belonged solely to Wainwright.  Lance Lynn has become an All-Star caliber number two or three starter for the Redbirds.  Even Michael Wacha had squeezed out Miller to some extent as Wacha is now the next Cardinals pitching phenom.

By coming to Atlanta, Shelby Miller was going to play for a different team with great pitching tradition.  His sinker would continue to improve under the tutelage of Braves Pitching Coach Roger McDowell.  But the best part of this situation for Miller was that he didn’t have to dominate batters right away for the Braves.  St. Louis has championship aspirations this year.  Atlanta would be cool with getting a wild card spot.  By leaving the baseball pressure cooker in the Arch City, Shelby Miller has accelerated his development to that of an ace.  With five straight quality starts and 1.60 ERA on the year, the newest Braves ace might find himself in Cincinnati this July as an All-Star.

From one exciting pitcher to another, Mike Foltynewicz looks to build on Shelby Miller’s pitching clinic last night with a gem of his own.  Folty takes on Anthony DeSclafini at 7:10 PM ET live from Great American Ball Park this evening.  I want to see some more Folty heat tonight and some Braves batter, possibly Kelly Johnson, hit a homer through a riverboat on the Ohio River.  If he overshoots the riverboat, the ball should land in Kentucky just fine.