Atlanta Braves: Shift to a Bullpen Rotation?

With the Atlanta Braves’ pitching staff struggling, would it make sense to “bullpen” a rotation night-in, night-out?

This may come as a new idea to many Braves’ fans; however, if MLB Network is a common fixture on your television, you have more than likely heard Brian Kenny preach about the idea of “bullpenning.” It is a simple idea that turns traditional pitching rotations on their ears.

The conventional five-man pitching rotation is widely used around the Major Leagues, outside of a couple of teams that prefer six-man rotations. The idea of “bullpenning” would combine the starters and relievers on the club and essentially turn them all into relievers, pitching one-to-two innings per outing.

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Earlier in the season, the Tampa Bay Rays used this method when they had a few starters injured (Moore, Smyly, Cobb, and Colome) and needed a strategy to get around the problem. A starter would open the game, pitch a couple of innings, and be followed by a slew of arms to finish the game.

Outside of Shelby Miller this season, the Atlanta Braves have no go-to arms; thus, they could be a strong candidate to go to a bullpen strategy to finish the season. With the rosters set to expand in September, the Braves could add more arms to the club and move to this type of strategy.

Hypothetically, if the Braves were able to roster 15 pitchers, they open the game with a “starter” (presumably a pitcher who can throw 100 pitches), and he would pitch the first two-to-four innings. Following the starter, the manager can mix-and-match for the remaining innings to give the team an upper hand with matchups.

To clarify, let me provide an example of this strategy. Suppose Shelby Miller starts the game, and he pitches three innings. Julio Teheran could follow him up and pitch two innings, leaving us in the fifth inning of the game. The final four innings could be left for relief pitching arms (Arodys Vizcaino, Mike Foltynewicz, Edwin Jackson, etc).

By allowing the starting rotation to take on a smaller daily role, their arms could stay fresh, and they could pitch sooner than every fifth day, perhaps even back-to-back days. This could allow the Atlanta Braves’ most prolific pitchers to impact games more often.

There are plenty of perks to “bullpenning” a rotation together. First, this eliminates the need for an ace; although, it would be helpful to have a stud. But, it would not be a necessary as it is in conventional rotations. Try naming a playoff contender without an ace.

Second, it would allow the manager more flexibility than the conventional rotation allows. The manager could play the matchups (lefty v. lefty, righty v. righty or pitchers with previous success against hitters) to put the odds in the favor of the pitchers. Sure, you can skip a start for a pitcher or create a spot-start for others you would like to see start, but for the most part, five-man rotations are pretty set.

Next, “bullpenning” allows teams to drop the need for top-tier starting pitching, which comes at a premium. The Atlanta Braves would not have to search for a big name that could strengthen their rotation; thus, this bodes well for smaller market teams, much like the Rays. By a team not needing strong starting pitching, money could go elsewhere (preferably on strong bullpen arms or impact bats) to bolster the pitching staff and lineup.

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Much like how the Kansas City Royals find success, the Atlanta Braves could move to an effective 7th-8th-9th inning combo to finish out games. What makes the Royals an elite-level team is that once they have a lead after the sixth inning, they can close the door on teams by having elite back-end arms.

Lastly, in addition to the aforementioned perks, by allowing pitchers to pitch for shorter lengths during the game, this creates an advantage by limiting the number of times rival hitters see the same pitcher. By doing so, this negates the hitter’s ability to get a feel for the pitcher and keeps the advantage in the pitchers’ hands.

With the Atlanta Braves having a sleuth of young pitching, switching to a “bullpen” rotation could be swift and effective. Moreover, it could allow the younger arms to not be over-exposed to big league hitting, much like Foltynewicz and Wisler have been this season.

It takes an open, unconventional mind to see the true potential to this strategy, but if effectively used, it could be the best strategy in baseball. We could see more teams switch to this type of strategy, especially in the smaller market areas that cannot sign top-dollar talent.

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