Braves right-hander Kevin Gausman will be activated from the 10-day injured list to start this evening’s game against the Nationals, reports David O’Brien of the Athletic. Gausman has been out since June 10 with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. The team has yet to formally announce the move, which will require a corresponding 25-man roster opening.
The 2019 season has been a challenge for Gausman, owner of a 6.21 ERA over 13 starts. There’s reason to believe he can at least reemerge as a capable mid-rotation starter if the injury is behind him. Gausman’s strikeout, walk and home run rates this year aren’t significantly different from those of the past three seasons. While he’s never quite lived up to the #2 starter billing he received as a former top-five draft choice and top-25 overall prospect, his track record is certainly one of a competent big-league starter. Between 2016-2018, Gausman combined average rate performance (a 4.17 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate) with rare durability, ranking seventh in baseball with 95 starts.
Even a mere return to form would be a boon to an Atlanta rotation that could use the stability. On the season, the Braves’ rotation has posted respectable if unspectacular numbers, but things have been a little more worrisome recently. Mike Soroka’s numbers have tailed off somewhat following his otherworldly start, while Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran have worrying peripherals belied by their solid ERA’s (although it’s worth noting both veterans have made something of a habit of outperforming ERA estimators in the past). Most worrisome, #2 starter Max Fried recently hit the 10-day IL with a blister. Former ace Mike Foltynewicz, meanwhile, has been better at Triple-A following a nightmarish start to the season, but the organization evidently feels he has more kinks to work through before getting recalled.
As O’Brien explores more fully in the above-linked piece, though, Gausman isn’t merely targeting a return to the status quo. He’ll bring with him a new toy, having found the grip on a curveball, a pitch he hasn’t thrown since 2016, per Brooks Baseball. Gausman has long had above-average fastball velocity and a vaunted split-change, but he’s yet to settle on a trusted breaking pitch. He scrapped the curveball for a slider entering 2017, but never felt comfortable with the new offering, which was average at best at generating swings-and-misses and ground balls.
Of course, Gausman’s curveball was never an elite pitch either, the reason he dropped it in the first place. It’s fair, then, to be skeptical of the hook unlocking another gear in Gausman until we see him deploy it at the highest level. Nevertheless, it’s at least notable to hear the hurler express excitement about a new breaking pitch, considering he’s essentially pitched the entire 2019 season with only a fastball and splitter, having ditched the slider from the season’s outset.
Whether Gausman’s third offering spurs a new level of performance remains to be seen. Regardless, just having a healthy, competent version of Gausman taking the ball every fifth day should help assuage some of the front office’s concerns about the rotation, which have caused them to poke around on the cream of the crop on the trade market. Perhaps the NL East frontrunners will swing a deal for starting pitching in the coming weeks no matter what, but a return to form (or further breakout) from their prized deadline acquisition last year might allow them to deploy their still-elite farm system to address other weak points on the roster.
Hope he does well tonight, we need a win.
Still think best place for him is in the pen.
Gaus looking great and like himself of yesteryear.. Exactly all this team and rotation needs going forward. Keep it up gausy!
I find it funny that he’s been on the “dinjured list” with “plantar fascitiis” but now magically out of thin air has a new breaking pitch.
He and folty absolutely have to pick up the slack and lead this team into the postseason. Figured last nite was guna be a W with our ace on the mound, need it tonite.
Should have won, we had numerous chances to put more runs on the board. Need Freedie to get out of his patented, yearly monster slump. Granted he had 2 hits last night, but both hits were balls he normally takes to the gap in left center.
The green light should not be given in every single 3-0 situation to EVERYBODY on the team. Ozzie should not have had it in that situation last nite as he’s struggling. I’ve preached all season snit needs to learn when to bunt and play for and on momentum.
Thought I heard chip say that dansbys the only position player with a sac bunt this year, if so that needs to be addressed. They get hot when then whole team is playing ABC baseball and feed off each other.
Totally agree, especially letting everyone swing away 3-0. This is another example of the many reasons I believe Snitker is a horrible manager. His in game management is a joke. I think there is a reason dude was in the organization for almost 40 years and never got a chance to manage till we fired Freedie. IMO, Snitker is just too stubborn and his continued use of Puke Jackson in the closer role is a perfect example. After the blown save Friday, Snitker’s post game comments sum up the stubbornness. “He’s got to have a short memory, cause he will be right back out there tomorrow.” Not verbatim, but that was it in a nutshell. Just plain stubborn and unwilling to change. His continued use of Minter is another perfect example. It’s plainly obvious, in my opinion, Minter is done for the year, he’s not going to return to anything close to what he was last year. And to be clear last year he was good, but definitely not great.
I read an article, too, that he was also working on a cutter?
Think you’re reading into stuff too much, pal.
“It’s fair, then, to be skeptical” then doesn’t belong in that sentence.
Thanks grammar police
It’s fair, then, to ask for your money back.
Badda Bing!
Gausman is a far cry from the pitcher we expected him (and Bundy) to be. Perhaps the worst aspect of him as a picture is that he has a high velocity fastball that never seems to do as much as it could — and it is never complemented by any legitimate offspeed pitches, all these years. The notion that that will be changing anytime soon seems dubious at best (the article seems to suggest something similar).
*pitcher
Bundy?
Gausman and Dylan Bundy were both among the top rated prospects in baseball (not just Baltimore’s system) prior to varying degrees of injury and performance issues plagued both of them.
Yeah I know who he is but I read the comment as Bundy was included in our trade for Guasman.
Are you serious ????
That’s how you read that ?
Yes, meant Bundy and Gaus as Orioles.
Who is being sent down? Minter I hope
Your ma
Bring folty back as the closer, add a lefty to the pen and a starter and we will be fine
Assuming Folty can be a closer is laughable. Sure he throws hard but being a closer takes someone that has mental fortitude. Folty folds when things don’t go his way.
It’s funny both your number 1 & 2 of 2018 can’t hold a spot in 2019. If they could just be a 2&3 or 3&4 and make it thru 6-7 innings per start the Braves could waltz into the playoffs with no stress and regular rest for everybody.