After a huge comeback win Friday night, the Braves will hope to finally find their footing this season behind last season’s Cy Young winner who has had some brutal luck to start the season.
After a huge comeback win Friday night, the Braves will hope to finally find their footing this season behind last season’s Cy Young winner who has had some brutal luck to start the season. This feels like a huge opportunity for Atlanta to right the ship against a beatable team, coming off an emotional win.
Sale hasn’t quite looked himself this season, but has suffered from some brutal batted ball luck, as his ERA is almost exactly twice his xFIP and he currently has a .407 BABIP going against him on the season. His strikeout and walk rates per 9 innings are nearly identical to his numbers from last season, so it is reasonable to think that if he continues pitching as he has so far this season then the results will fall closer into line with last season, or at least a very productive level. The Braves would also surely like some additional depth from Sale, as he is currently averaging less than 5.0 innings per outing. Sale’s fastball velocity has been up and down a bit this season, but he was tossing it pretty hard in his last outing and his season average is right around where it was last season.
Simeon Woods Richardson will take the mound for the Twins, which should not exactly strike fear into the hearts of Braves’ batters, with no disrespect meant to Woods Richardson. The young 6’3 righty was once a highly rated prospect and completed his first real season in the majors last year to the tune of a 4.55 xFIP over 133.2 innings that was pretty in line with his other numbers. He pitches off of a low-90s four-seamer that has some fairly impressive rise, but hasn’t been especially effective in his career so far. His secondary is clearly his slider that is average velocity but has disappointingly little vertical break, while he mixes in a changeup and curveball that are each also pretty unimpressive offerings. The Braves’ offense should be able to get to Woods Richardson, although a statement like that has been far from a given for this team for about a year now. Hopefully they can carry the confidence from last night into today’s game and put up some early runs.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 19, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports South/Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan