The Braves had a stable 4-2 homestand, successful each sequence and can now take a fast 4 game street journey to Miami earlier than returning dwelling. This could be a pleasant time to get grasping and take 3 or 4 from this sequence towards the offensively challenged Marlins.
For game 1 at the moment, they are going to ship JR Ritchie to the mound, going through (*1*) from the Marlins. JR has gotten fairly fortunate to haven’t been crushed up to now this season, as he’s struggled with walks. He has been a bit caught up with the Braves’ bullpen depth situation and been left in too lengthy a number of instances. He hasn’t actually performed a lot spectacular on the entire over his 4 begins, though he has performed decently to forestall arduous contact. For Ritchie to be viable long term, the strikeouts can have to improve and the walks can have to dramatically lower. He has a sub-par offense to cope with at the moment, so hopefully he can construct on an honest 4.1 inning outing final trip and provides the Braves a stable begin with some size.
Advertisement
Max Meyer on the opposite facet is a former #3 general choose from 2020, however has but to make a lot of that expertise on the main league stage, posting three replacement-level seasons earlier than having the start of what could also be a breakout this yr. Meyer has additionally struggled to stay wholesome, however that shouldn’t imply something to us at the moment. Meyer has made issues work with a 78th percentile Okay% and a fifty fifth percentile BB%, regardless of considerably beneath common contact metrics. He has a mid-90s fastball that’s diminished by poor extension, however pitches primarily off of his slider and sweeper, which have been devastating this season. He’ll additionally combine in a changeup and sinker to fill out his 5 pitch combine. The sweeper has been a serious improvement for him this season, solely actually introducing it final yr and seeing an enormous leap in effectiveness this yr. Braves hitters would do properly to reap the benefits of his fastballs when he throws them, as a result of these breaking balls are not any joke. His sweeper in explicit is thrown fairly arduous and is a bit slurvy, however has spectacular motion, whereas his arduous slider is a reasonably flat pitch, however an efficient one.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Monday, May 18, 6:40 p.m. EDT
Location: loanDepot Park, Miami, FL
TV: BravesImaginative and prescient, Gray TV
Streaming: MLB.television
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan