{"id":103057,"date":"2025-06-28T20:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=103057"},"modified":"2025-06-28T20:08:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:08:21","slug":"bryce-elder-implodes-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/28\/bryce-elder-implodes-braves\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryce Elder Implodes as Braves\u2019 Rotation Depth Reaches Breaking Point"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Braves dropped their third straight game Friday night in a 9-0 loss that highlighted the dire state of their pitching staff.<\/p>\n<p>Now seven games under .500 and trailing by 7 1\/2 games in the Wild Card race, the Braves\u2019 margin for error is shrinking, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/12\/bryce-elder-pitching-well\/\" target=\"_self\">Bryce Elder<\/a> did nothing to help in his start against the Philadelphia Phillies.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_103114\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-103114\" style=\"width: 506px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103114\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-300x176.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"506\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-1024x600.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-768x450.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-1536x900.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26509817_168400885_lowres-2048x1200.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-103114\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 22, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder (55) pitches against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Bryce Elder\u2019s Historically Bad Start<\/h2>\n<p>Elder surrendered nine runs in just two-plus innings, becoming only the third pitcher in franchise history to allow nine or more earned runs in that short of a span. The last starter to suffer such a fate was Aaron Blair on May 17, 2016, the night Brian Snitker made his managerial debut for Atlanta. The other instance came in 1957 \u00a0by Taylor Phillips in a relief role.<\/p>\n<p>After a 2-hour, 19-minute rain delay derailed his pregame routine, Elder never found his rhythm on the mound. He walked in a run in the first inning, served up home runs to Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos in the second, and surrendered Otto Kemp\u2019s first career homer in a six-run third that saw Elder replaced by Michael Petersen on the hill.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Otto Kemp hits his first Major League home run!<\/p>\n<p>The <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Phillies?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Phillies<\/a> are pouring it on against the Braves. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rh3M6WWxTQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/rh3M6WWxTQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1938786412398309545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Elder\u2019s Unpromising Metrics<\/h3>\n<p>Elder\u2019s numbers this season paint a concerning picture. In 13 starts, he has a 5.82 ERA with a 2-5 record. Baseball Savant\u2019s advanced metrics aren\u2019t any more promising. Elder\u2019s expected ERA (xERA), batting average against (xBA), and run values on both his fastball and offspeed pitches all rank in the bottom 10% of major league pitchers. His offspeed metrics are particularly alarming, falling in the bottom 1%. With a fastball averaging 91.6 mph, faster than only 12% of MLB arms, he has struggled to keep hitters off balance.<\/p>\n<h3>Atlanta\u2019s Injury-Depleted Rotation<\/h3>\n<p>Despite his continued ineffectiveness, the Braves may have no choice but to keep Elder in the rotation. Injuries have decimated Atlanta\u2019s starters. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/29\/braves-aj-smith-shawver-injured-list-elbow\/\" target=\"_self\">A.J. Smith-Shawver<\/a> is out for the season with a torn UCL, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/08\/reynaldo-lopez-undergoes-shoulder-surgery\/\" target=\"_self\">Reynaldo L\u00f3pez\u2019s<\/a> timeline for his return from shoulder surgery is uncertain, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/21\/braves-place-chris-sale-injured-list\/\" target=\"_self\">Chris Sale<\/a> could be sidelined until August with a fractured left rib cage. The team has turned to 20-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/21\/didier-fuentes-poised-performance-mlb-debut\/\" target=\"_self\">Didier Fuentes<\/a> in an attempt to deal with the depleted staff.<\/p>\n<p>The Braves are out of options and time. With the season slipping further out of reach, the hope now rests on just a few arms or a front office move before the trade deadline. Until then, Atlanta will have to weather the storm with what\u2019s left.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Braves dropped their third straight game Friday night in a 9-0 loss that highlighted the dire state of their pitching staff. Now seven games under .500 and trailing by 7 1\/2 games in the Wild Card race, the Braves\u2019 margin for error is shrinking, and Bryce Elder did nothing to help in his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4445,"featured_media":103113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[6439,291,3770,198,336],"class_list":["post-103057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-aj-smith-shawver","tag-brian-snitker","tag-bryce-elder","tag-chris-sale","tag-reynaldo-lopez"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103057"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103115,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103057\/revisions\/103115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}