In July of 2007, the Atlanta Braves signed a sixteen year old, right-handed pitcher out of Cartegena, Columbia, named Julio Teheran. While the youngster showed tremendous upside, at the time the organization could hardly have known they were inking their first contract with the future ace of the franchise. Sitting atop the Major League pitching staff in 2016, Teheran is approaching the All-Star Break with an impressive first half, showing off every bit of upside the Braves saw in the 25-year-old nine years ago in Columbia.
The Resurrection of Julio Teheran
Lost Confidence Returning
With Atlanta in the process of a massive roster turnover, many rumors have begun to circulate concerning Teheran’s future and his value to the team. As things stand today, it appears the Braves believe he provides greater value with the team moving forward than he would as a trade chip. General Manager John Coppolella stated via Twitter that he “doesn’t see us trading Julio”. Assuming short remarks made on social media can be believed and Julio will remain an Atlanta Brave for the foreseeable future, a clearer picture of the team’s future begins to take shape.
The Braves are 8-3 since the team’s extra inning victory over the Reds on June 15, and seem to he headed in the right direction. A season ago, the confidence of the players and fans hit an all-time low. The franchise floundered through its worst campaign in over twenty years while shipping out nearly every major name on its roster for elite prospects and team-friendly veterans. Only Teheran and fellow former prized prospect Freddie Freeman remained as the cornerstones of the team, monuments to a past regime and the end of an era.
A Team Trending Upward
At the beginning of this year’s campaign, the state of the team seemed just as bleak as it had a year ago. For a franchise coming off its golden age of division titles, playoff appearances, and Hall of Fame players, the fall from grace has left a sour taste in mouths across Braves Country. But while heads have hung low in Atlanta, heads have been turning up and down the field across the farm system. Players like Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies, and Sean Newcomb provide hope for the future as they grow and develop in the minor leagues. However, hope only goes so far. Great numbers and highlights from the latest youth movement haven’t put W’s on the board in Atlanta this year.
Teheran’s Impact
This year, the man who has been providing the greatest impact has been that young Columbian standing on the mound every five days. Through sixteen games this season, Teheran has posted a 2.46 ERA and ninety-nine strikeouts while giving out only twenty-four walks. Flashy numbers, the kind many playoff hopefuls have noticed, and the kind that spark trade rumors when posted by a player on a team as sell-happy as the Braves have been over the last year-and-a-half. It seems, however, that, barring some kind of blockbuster offer, the Braves are done selling and are getting ready to make their return to respectability behind the right arm of Teheran.
A Career Renaissance in the Works
That sounds great, and it’s what every Braves fan has been waiting to hear, but the narrative differed greatly in April. At the end of the season’s first month, Julio sat on a 4.60 ERA, having allowed fifteen earned runs, five homers, and eleven walks in his first five games. Those numbers, combined with last year’s disappointing dip in nearly every pitching category (headlined by a 4.04 ERA) and the continuing doubts that Teheran could be a reliable front-line starter that have followed him since his accent to the big leagues, worried many. He looked like just another edition of the tale of unfulfilled potential common to professional baseball. Not one person would have batted an eye at such a story. It happens all the time.
What doesn’t happen all the time, however, is a player facing such a narrative picking up not only himself, but his entire team, and rewriting the story.
The New Julio
Since April 14, Teheran has given the Braves an impressive string of twelve quality starts. He’s allowed no more than three runs in any of his starts during that span. He’s managing to compile his eye catching numbers despite the Braves offense struggling to find its identity and the bullpen forgetting the word “consistency”. He has endured the general turmoil that runs rampant during a rebuilding process. Teheran capped off his early season dominance by throwing a one-hit complete game against the New York Mets on Father’s Day last week, and shows no signs of letting up.
A month ago, the Braves lay dead in the water, sinking further into irrelevance in the Major League record books. Now, behind Teheran’s resurgence, the Braves are poised to not only begin their return to glory sooner rather than later, but to establish some leadership and a competitive attitude in that young and promising clubhouse in Atlanta. If things continue to progress as they have so far this year, Teheran may be just the first of several breakout players shaping the future the historic franchise.
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