Atlanta Braves: What is wrong with the pitching staff?

Over the last six games especially, the Atlanta Braves pitching staff is making an already mediocre start that much worse.

It’s hard to find a silver lining so far this season in regards to the pitching. Atlanta owns the Major leagues worst ERA with a combined 4.94 effort so far. Considering the money the  Atlanta Braves spent on starting pitching this offseason this fact is unacceptable. The 12 million spent on Bartolo Colon has resulted in a 6.27 ERA with a 1-3 record. Folty owns a 4.55 ERA but hasn’t pitched poorly minus his latest start against St. Louis. However without a doubt, Julio Teheran has been the most upsetting of the staff so far.

The ace of the Atlanta Braves owns a 4.33 ERA through his six games started. Julio pitched very well through three starts before a horrid start at home facing Washington. Since then, Julio hasn’t pitched the same, with three poor starts culminating in last nights loss to the Cardinals. His breaking stuff is fat and he is simply misplacing his pitches. All in all, there is an interesting trend to this pattern. All three blowout losses on Teheran’s end have come at home. Is Suntrust Park ultimately to blame for this pitching crisis?

Thoughts?

There has been much debate from Atlanta Braves fans over the hitter friendly park throughout the year. In fact, of the 13 games played at Suntrust, only four quality starts have been thrown from the staff. In addition, the Brave offense is proving its worth, with Freddie Freeman on pace for an historic year. It is certainly upsetting to see quality offense wasted so early in the season.

The relief core is not helping matters as the Braves own the worst bullpen ERA is the major leagues. To be honest, the bullpen isn’t exactly the leagues most talented but some quality players like Vizcaino and Johnson haven’t exactly come out of the gates hot. The carry of baseballs at Suntrust doesn’t help, but at some point these major league pitchers need to step up and hit their spots.

Honestly, the early signs fans are getting from the pitching core is not a good one. The Atlanta Braves will not be able to contend without major improvements. The poor start from veteran guys makes the possibility of fresh faces much more likely. I venture we will see Newcomb fairly soon and Aaron Blair make get another shot soon as well. The sample size from Wisler hasn’t been great in addition. In any case, pitching coach Chuck Hernandez has got to figure something out or this year is going to go south very very quickly. A team 4.94 ERA will not win you games, we’ll see if the Braves can turn it around.