It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Atlanta Braves pitching staff was decimated with injuries in spring training. Brandon Beachy, Kris Medlen and Mike Minor were all injured this Spring, with Medlen and Beachy both gone for the year after Tommy John surgery. The Braves also had Gavin Floyd on the sidelines, a free agent that they had signed to a one-year deal in December, knowing that he would not be ready to pitch before May. Desperate to get some pitchers to throw some of those innings, they added veterans Aaron Harang, and Ervin Santana with a pair of one-year deals.
Santana was also not able to pitch at the start of the season as he was also recovering from an off-season injury. On Opening Day their starting rotation read: Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, David Hale, and Aaron Harang.
Considered a contender after winning the NL East last year, the decimated Braves pitching staff had to be a major concern in Atlanta. Most analysts and fans felt that the Braves would need to get huge contributions from their offence in order to be competitive early in the year. Then something funny happened.
Braves Pitching Exceeds Expectations
Aaron Harang has been in MLB for 13 years. Overall he is 114-120; and he averages only 8.8 wins each year. He holds a career 4.24 ERA, WHIP of 1.347, and he gives up an average of 1.2HR/9. Overall he’s a veteran journey man back of the rotation and the Braves were just hoping to get some innings out of him.
However, Harang is pitching as well as he ever has in his career. He has four wins through the first 7 weeks of the season, despite not getting much run support. He also has put up a 2.98 ERA has reduced his average home runs allowed to 0.3HR/9 innings. Harang even took a no-hitter through the seventh inning against the Mets before being pulled by manager Fredi Gonzalez after throwing 121 pitches. Luis Avilan would relieve him and give up a hit to Mets superstar David Wright. Harang is already one of five Braves to have multiple starts allowing two or fewer hits.
Ervin Santana was a mid rotation starter pitcher while playing for the Los Angeles Angels from 2005-2012. Overall he has put up career marks of 109-91 with a 4.16 ERA. Santana really struggled in 2012 when he was 9-13 with a 5.16 ERA. It was a personal worst in ERA and he gave up a career high of 39 home runs. Santana would be traded to the Kansas City Royals where he would bounce back with a 3.24 ERA and 9-10 record due to poor run support. He could not reach an agreement to re-sign with the Royals, who qualified him meaning his new team would have to give first round draft pick compensation. As a result, teams were reluctant to sign Santana and he was a free agent after Spring Training had begun. When injuries made the Braves desperate they offered him a one-year $14.1 million deal just as he was considering similar contracts from the Blue Jays and Orioles. So far, Santana has come in and looked like an ace for the Braves, with six great starts. He has been outstanding going 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA.
Braves Poor Hitting
In a reversal of what fans and analysts expected, it has been the Braves pitching staff that has been carrying the club to first place in the NL East while the hitting has struggled this year. The Braves are currently 30th, and dead last, in MLB in runs scored (129), 28th in batting average (.231), 29th in on base percentage (.289), 25th in slugging percentage (.368), and yet the Braves are 23-19 this season.
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