BS Report: Pitchers Look Promising
Well, we are starting to see some good signs from the Atlanta Braves starting pitchers down in Florida. It’s early. They’re still three and a half weeks of spring training to go before the start of the regular season on March the 27th, but so far, so good. Now, on Saturday, Spencer Strider through his first Grapefruit League game. And he did okay.
He gave up one run, two hits, two innings, no walks and two strikeouts. And there was some concern I’m hearing down in Florida about his velocity. It was, kind of low to mid 90s. And and look, these people in these front offices in Major League Baseball are stressing out about the velocity, and it’s ridiculous. These pitchers need to work their way up to whatever they’re going to be throwing at in the regular season and be ready by March 27th when the season starts, not March the 1st or second.
I mean, that’s ridiculous. So I don’t know why they would panic about that. It’s it’s crazy what’s going on in baseball right now with the emphasis on velocity. And yet why are pitchers getting hurt? Because they throw hard. So why don’t we allow them to pitch a little bit and not stress about the velocity and get them ready for the season? Seems simple to me. Anyway, we’ll see how Spencer does as he continues in his Grapefruit League action later on this week. We did see two members the rotation Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes, both pitch on Sunday. They had a split squad games down in Florida. Lopez did very well. Three shutout innings, one hit, one walk and three strikeouts.
Holmes two and two thirds shutout innings, one hit, one walk and two strikeouts. So neither of those two Lopez nor Holmes have given up a run so far this spring in their first two. Alex, that is a very good sign because this team needs those two pitchers to do very well all year long for six months. Now, of course, you’ve got Chris Sale, the top in Strider, and then three and four will be Lopez and Holmes. Lopez, of course, only pitched one game last year before going down with shoulder surgery and missing the rest of the season. Holmes has a partially torn ligament in his elbow. He missed the last third of the season, so these two are feeling good so far and they’re throwing the ball well and that is a really, really good sign.
Now Bryce Elder, the fifth starter and he pitched last Wednesday. I’m sure he’ll pitch later on this week as well. He’s probably going to be the fifth starter. One name to keep in mind is the name that I mentioned here on this segment and on my radio show a lot. He’s a favorite of mine, and that is J.R. Richie, a young pitcher who was a top draft pick several years ago who had Tommy John surgery a couple of seasons ago, came back and has done very well so far since his return.
He’s done great so far. Two appearances, one run, one hit and in four innings with only one walk and six strikeouts. This kid can pitch. He doesn’t throw 98 miles an hour or 99 or 100. He topped out at 97 in 1 of his appearances earlier this spring, but he’s usually between 94 and 96. And and he throws six pitches and he knows how to pitch, so we’ll have to keep an eye on him. He may not break camp with the team, but he could be with the Braves at some point this season. But knock on wood, no new injuries so far and the rotation members are doing pretty well down in Florida.
