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Braves Ongoing Season Comments Thread..
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It’s pretty amazing how they are hitting. Hate to see the all star break come up. They are fun to watch. Glad young Soroka got the win.
Pitching always matters in the long run. Yeah though, the offense is killing it so far. I wouldn't have thought we'd have a top 6 offense in in MLB or that Philly's would struggle. This team has no quit in it at this point, you have to love that.
Good to see Soroka hang in there and keep battling on a night he didn’t have his best stuff, wish he could have gotten one more out for the win. Another good appearance by Sobotka. If he can keep throwing strikes, he’ll really help our bullpen.
I’m pretty sure I said somewhere in this forum earlier that Soroka is more likely to be a Hudson-like #1 type than an actual ace type like the Scherzer’s/Verlander’s or like Maddux for a true flashback. We have guys that could become that (mainly leaning toward the former here), but I feel like they have more risk than usual.
I might be being unfair to a 21-year-old, but that’s how I see it. I don’t think I’m talking bad here either. He can be like Hudson or Gray and it’d be a fine, mostly consistent career (considering that I think Gray is bouncing back again this year).
Soroka is the closest thing to Maddux we are ever likely to see. Both have mediocre stuff, but both know how to pitch, how to attack hitters, and have excellent ball control. I doubt he will ever reach Maddux levels of dominance, that's too much to expect from anyone; but they are both cut from the same cloth.
I have to disagree with you about Maddux's stuff. He had excellent movement on his pitches to go with superb control and outthinking hitters.
Soroka's stuff isn't really mediocre. His sinker is usually a plus pitch, and the slider is pretty good. He can actually run it up to 96-97 on his 4-seam fastball but that pitch isn't really good without good placement of it because the movement on it isn't great. The change is his best swing and miss pitch, but he misplaces it in the middle of the plate a little too much.
The Phillies came into the game with a game plan of sit on the knee high sinker and I think have a few guys that are the epitome of the launch angle era in that they're better at hitting down in the zone than up in the zone. They didn't adjust for whatever reason until the 2nd inning.
Again...he's more Hudson than Maddux.
Soroka only has to pitch like he did his first 11 starts to be great. Hudson never had the movement on his pitches that Soroka has when he's on. Soroka can control a game in a way Hudson never did. Tim just threw the ball, he never mastered games like Mike was doing earlier in the season. He was so good it was just about impossible to do more than guess where the ball would be. The question is can he master himself and be that pitcher consistently ?
I hope you're right, but I'd still rather see consistency. It's only good to struggle if you get past it and don't keep reverting back to stretches like he's having. Unfortunately the vast majority of MLB pitchers never do reach that point. I really don't think Mike needed to adjust anything, he was getting so much movement on everything he was throwing hitters couldn't adjust, all they could do is guess where the ball would be. Now if he can't be THAT pitcher on a regular basis, then he'll have to adjust, but then he probably won't be special.
I know it’s the fish, but Julio was dealing tonite.
JT was spotting it better and he had good movement. Like you pointed out though, The Fish don't have an elite lineup.
This team is really resilient. I'm more impressed by the day. A 1-0 win after a long rain delay, whatever it takes.
With the signing period about 3.5 weeks away, who should The Braves go after? I hope it's Madison Bumgarner. His numbers aren't where they typically have been but he's come on lately and most importantly, he's been the best postseason pitcher of the past decade. He's been instrumental in The Giants winning 3 World Series.
A package deal for Bumgarner and Will Smith would answer our need for a playoff-caliber starter and a left-handed end-of-game reliever. Since both will be free agents after this season, I think the asking price will be too high. Bumgarner seems to be the obvious choice, given his past playoff results.