Atlanta Braves won’t be World Series contenders until starting pitching is fixed

Max Fried is an ace. But the rest of the Atlanta Braves rotation has been a mess in 2020.

When Mike Soroka stepped off the mound awkwardly on Aug. 3 against the New York Mets, rupturing his Achilles tendon and ending his season, the Atlanta Braves suddenly went from having a young and deep pitching staff to a club struggling to find reliable arms.

Soroka is gone for the year. Sean Newcomb and Mike Foltynewicz, who opened the season in the rotation, have since been optioned to the Braves’ alternate site. In their absence, the Braves are now counting on the 26-year-old right-hander with just 39 career starts before 2020, Max Fried.

Fried has excelled in his role as the Braves’ staff ace since Soroka went down. He’s second in the Majors with a 1.24 ERA behind Trevor Bauer of the Reds. He’s one of only three qualified starters who have yet to allow a home run this season, along with Zack Greinke of the Astros and the Tigers’ Spencer Turnbull. Opponents are hitting just .172 against him, fourth in the National League. Fried has yet to give up more than two earned runs in any of his five starts, including four straight with one or fewer runs allowed

But his success hasn’t carried over to their other starters, a glaring weakness for a club that hopes to be a World Series contender this season. Except for Fried, no Braves starter has lasted past the fourth inning in the club’s last 10 games. Starters other than Fried have a 7.43 ERA since Soroka was injured. Opponents are batting .269 against them, nearly one hundred points higher than Fried. Through their first 25 games this season, Fried is the only Braves starter to earn a victory.

Touki Toussaint has a 7.90 ERA over his last three starts. Kyle Wright lasted just three innings in his last outing on Friday and has a 7.00 ERA in his last two starts. Rookie Huascar Ynoa, the Braves’ 11th-ranked prospect, has twice been used as an opener.

The lack of depth in the rotation means the Braves are increasingly reliant on their bullpen. Braves relievers have thrown the fifth-most innings in the league this season. Josh Tomlin, used as a long reliever at the beginning of the season, was thrust into a starting role on Tuesday against the Nationals and went four innings, giving up two runs on six hits. Counted on to get the last 15 outs, the bullpen gave up six earned runs as the Braves lost the game 8-5.

Pitching depth is the only thing holding back a lineup that still, despite their struggles on the mound, leads the NL East at 14-11. The offense ranks in the top-10 in the league with nearly five runs per game. Freddie Freeman, after a slow start, has a 1.218 OPS over his last 10 games. Outfielder Adam Duvall played the hero twice in the last week: on Saturday, it was his solo home run in the ninth inning that gave the Braves a 2-1 win in Miami over the Marlins. Then, on Monday, as the Braves entered the ninth trailing the Nationals by three, Duvall hit a two-run home run before Dansby Swanson walked it off with another two-run blast.

The trade deadline is less than two weeks away. General manager Alex Anthopoulos has never been afraid to make a bold move at the deadline (as he did in 2015 for the Blue Jays). The Braves will likely be in the market for another quality starter stuck on a losing team, like Seattle’s Taijuan Walker, San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto, or Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi.

They already have an ace. Now the Braves just have to figure out who will fill the other spots in the rotation to be the contender they’re supposed to be.