The Braves face the Marlins in a doubleheader, with Hurston Waldrep starting the first game and Erick Fedde starting the second.
Hurston Waldrep will look to back up what was a fine start earlier in the week against the Reds. He only allowed one run and covered 5.2 innings with only 2 walks, but he had a pretty lackluster 4 strikeouts that he will want to improve on. His start showed a very different pitcher than he was last year, with new mechanics to help his command and a dramatically different pitch mix. He ditched the four-seamer for a sinker and a hard cutter, while dropping his slider usage in favor of his curveball. I like emphasizing the curveball more than the slider, as it has impressive movement for it’s relatively high velocity as far as curveballs go. The cutter is an interesting pitch, but the sinker isn’t much to write home about, other than adding a little movement to his very flat four-seamer. Hopefully the command boost and new pitch mix can allow Hurston to find a home for himself at the major league level and utilize that splitter he’s known for.
Ryan Gusto will start for Miami and he is having a fairly interesting season as a 26 year old rookie, performing like a solid back of the rotation starter mostly for Houston before landing in Miami at the trade deadline. Gusto has solid but unspectacular strikeout and walk rates and throws six pitches with some nice rise on his mid-90s four-seamer, good cut on his cutter, and strong drop on his curveball.
Game Date/Time: Saturday, August 9, 1:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports South, FanDuel Sports Southeast, Gray TV
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
Erick Fedde will take the mound in the second game for the Braves, facing former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins.
Fedde is likely only going to be a Brave for another two months and is a veteran at this point, but the Braves do seem to be having him throw his sinker a bit more and his sweeper a bit less, so that is a tendency worth keeping an eye on. None of his arsenal is particularly impressive on the whole, however, despite some good extension. Otherwise, he’s generally been bad this year and he’s here to eat innings at the majors for this Atlanta team that has seen its rotation obliterated by injury.
Alcantara is a far cry from his former Cy Young winner self. He missed all of last season due to injury, but the warning signs appeared even in 2023, as his strikeouts dropped. He’s more or less maintained his velocity, but his strikeouts have dropped even more, below 7 K/9 innings this season and his ground ball rate is down a decent chunk (~7%) as well, while his walks have crept up. That’s a very bad combination for a guy approaching 30 who has never had major strikeout stuff and has relied on pitching to contact with velocity and avoiding walks.
Game Date/Time: Saturday, August 9, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports South, FanDuel Sports Southeast, Gray TV
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan