36-year-old Cole Hamels was finally able to make his Atlanta debut on Wednesday night, going 3.1 innings and allowing three runs while striking out two Orioles batters. Although he had a tough time in the third inning, there were several positives to take away from the short start, and the most important result will be how his arm responds after missing several months with a triceps injury.
Let’s dive into the specifics…
CHANGEUP COMMAND
Given he was on a pitch count of 50-55 tosses, the primary goal for this start was to work with all of his pitches and see what will need more fine-tuning in the two starts leading up to the playoffs. The lefty was able to effectively use his cutter to work inside on righties and set them up for the curveball or high fastball, both of which he located fairly well.
However, his changeup led to a much more mixed bag of results, and it is a pitch that needs to be sharp for Hamels to succeed. He induced some weakly hit pop-ups with the pitch early on, but also surrendered all three hits with it. Austin Hays and Hanser Alberto mashed a pair of doubles in the third inning with the two highest exit velocities of the night for Baltimore (104.1 and 103.8), and it was due to Hamels catching too much of the plate with the changeup.
There is, of course, no need to panic, and a pitcher needs in-game reps with a “feel” pitch like the changeup before he can fully rely on it again. Hamels potentially could have avoided it altogether and leaned more heavily on the cutter, fastball, and curve to grind his way through the third inning, but he wanted to stay true to his repertoire and see where things currently stand. This will do him a world of good as he ramps things up in the next couple of starts.
Those next two starts likey pit him against the Marlins and Red Sox in home outings, so it should be a fantastic chance to pitch deeper into games and be ready for a full or close-to-full workload in the first week of October. The Marlins are a current playoff team in the NL and a potential Wild Card matchup for the Braves as well, so that will be an important series for everyone involved.
PLAYOFF ROTATION
Major League Baseball made a major announcement on Tuesday, releasing the schedule for a 2020 Postseason that includes neutral-site locations in Texas and California for the Division Series and beyond.
Even more crucial than the announcement of the game locations was the decision to have no off-days during any of the three-game Wild Card, five-game Division, or 7-game Championship series. There will be at least one off-day in between each series, but teams will still have to plan for traditional five-man starting rotations unless they plan on letting guys throw on short rest. Theoretically, this will benefit teams with the deepest starting pitching, a quality the Braves simply do not possess.
As of now, the return to full health of Max Fried, who will return Friday from a muscle spasm, is the number one priority for the pitching staff. After that, Ian Anderson’s brilliant rookie season so far will likely be rewarded with at least one crucial playoff start. Hamels’s remaining two tune-up starts hold even more importance now, as Brian Snitker will need him in the playoff rotation as long as he is healthy enough to go. Kyle Wright has struggled all year, but he at least showed positive signs in his last start against Washington, where he was able to make it through six innings of 3-ER ball.
The fifth spot is a bit of a mystery at this point. Do they opt to start pitching guys on short rest? I doubt this would be the way to go, especially with Hamels coming off the long-term injury and Fried dealing with a significant drop in velocity. Does Mike Foltynewicz get one more chance to prove himself on the big stage? Reports have generally been optimistic out of Gwinnett, with the righty regaining weight and velocity on his fastball, but he likely would have been called up by now if that was the plan. The organization will likely go with one of the openers (Josh Tomlin or Huascar Ynoa) and ride the bullpen the rest of the way.
The Postseason announcement certainly doesn’t play into the Braves’ hands, but with one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball and a lights-out bullpen, this team still has plenty of firepower to overcome the back end of the rotation. Stay tuned to see how things shake out.
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