Atlanta Braves Five Opening Day Observations

1. Julio Tehran’s inconsistency

Julio Teheran got the Opening Day start, his sixth straight when it was determined Mike Foltynewicz wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. Julio probably didn’t deserve the Opening Day start, but with our best pitcher out and the rest of the staff being young guys, Julio was the de facto Braves pitcher to step up. Julio has had past success in Philadelphia, but this was a whole new, revamped lineup that Julio would be seeing for the first time yesterday. Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Jean Segura were all additions Julio would have to deal with. It was very up and down, to say the least.

For Julio, the day started out rough. Andrew McCutchen, another new addition, leadoff the game with a bomb into the seats. At that point, it seemed like the Braves were in line for slaughter. But Julio was able to regain his composure after the lead-off home-run. Julio proceeded to sit down the next nine batters in order before getting into trouble in the 4th when Dansby Swanson threw a wild ball to first trying to throw out Juan Segura. Segura made it to 2nd on the error and later scored that inning. Add on another run in the same inning, and the Braves were in a hole that they were never able to dig themselves out of.

Julio was good and bad on Opening Day. He struck out seven and walked two, but only pitched to the 5th inning. I know it’s Opening Day and pitchers must be exhausted from the rigorous Spring Training, so asking a starter to go more than 5 innings is asking a lot. But Julio has to do better to go further in these games. The Braves starters, Julio included, need to try to extend into the game as long as possible. This bullpen for the Braves is not the best unit in baseball. The Braves bullpen will need all the help they can get, so being up and down like that for Julio is never going to be a good thing. But that has always been Julio’s problem, inconsistency.