Kyle Wright's ascent to the top of the Braves rotation is something I saw coming during the 2020 playoffs but assumed would happen sooner than it did.
I think the Braves have been both lucky and unlucky as far as their rotation is concerned. Lucky in that they have been able to wrangle Mike Foltynewicz, Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly, Bryse Wilson, Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller, Sean Newcomb, Ian Anderson, Huascar Ynoa, Touki Toussaint and now Bryce Elder in the same rotation space, but unlucky that they haven't all been healthy or active at the same time. It's the same thing- 4 or 5 people get injured, they call up more people who are ready, then the first people are healthy and the younger pitchers get stuck in bullpen or minors roles. All this talent, and no real accumulation or coexistence.
Right now, the team is without Mike Soroka [...again], and they have demoted Ynoa and Davidson. Ian Anderson has a high ERA because he needs Tommy John surgery and is in denial about it. Morton's struggling cause he's 38. This new kid Bryce Elder is doing alright but is still a bit untested. Max Fried is, as usual, waiting for his ERA to come down. And above them all, out of nowhere, is whiz kid Kyle Wright, with 2 wins, a 1.06 ERA and 26 Ks. I am very happy that Wright is doing so well, and I think he's got a lot of really nice starts ahead of him. The goal, at least for next year, is to have Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Huascar Ynoa and Ian Anderson all healthy and doing well at the same time. I think that'd be a pretty scary rotation.
As for the rest of the team...nothing too special as of yet. The usual suspects of Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies are surging, and Marcell Ozuna's power numbers are completely back. Kenley Jansen has 4 saves but his usual inconsistency. Dansby Swanson, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Alex Dickerson aren't hitting. Rosario might need to have a corrective eye surgery and therefore be out of commission for a bit.
I think really a lot of this team is proving that the momentum this team hit during the second half last year was really only valid in that shining moment, and bringing back a lot of the responsible players on contracts didn't exactly keep that going. Which is alright. It just confirms that a lot of what made the Braves a World Series team came at the deadline. What the Braves now need to do is to keep the dynasty going using a lot of their perennial players, without the sort of fair-weather quality that gave them rings. This will be very difficult, but it's not impossible.
Coming Tomorrow- A man that used to catch for my team, and now seems to maybe be better off?
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