{"id":610059,"date":"2026-03-06T16:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/610059\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:34:31","slug":"1-pitcher-who-is-poised-to-become-atlanta-braves-2026-x-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/610059\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Pitcher Who is Poised to Become Atlanta Braves’ 2026 X-Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Braves<\/a> have a number of questions to answer heading into the season. Atlanta’s bullpen may be a strength, however. The team re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias this past offseason, while they also signed Robert Suarez. One other reliever who has been overlooked but could make a positive impact is James Karinchak.<\/p>\n

There was a time when Karinchak looked like a star reliever with the Cleveland Guardians. Injuries have impacted him over the years, though, and he has not pitched at the MLB level in a regular season game since 2023.<\/p>\n

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The Braves added the 30-year-old during the offseason. Karinchak is looking to make the team. He has yet to allow a run through three innings of work at spring training so far. He’s also allowed only one hit and two walks, while Karinchak has recorded six strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Of course, we do not want to overreact to three innings of work during spring training. With that being said, why is Karinchak a potential X-factor with the Braves in 2026?<\/p>\n

The Braves will need the bullpen to be strong all season long. The starting rotation is already battling multiple injuries, so an impressive bullpen will be of the utmost importance.<\/p>\n

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Atlanta already has a respectable core of relievers, but receiving a big season from an overlooked veteran like Karinchak may cement this bullpen as one of the better ones in baseball.<\/p>\n

Karinchak made his MLB debut back in 2019 with Cleveland. He impressed but only appeared in five games. During the shortened 2020 season, the right-handed hurler turned in a 2.67 ERA across 27 outings.<\/p>\n

It seemed as if he was on the verge of a true breakout campaign heading into 2021. His results were up and down, however, as Karinchak had a 4.07 ERA in 60 contests. He bounced back in 2022 with a stellar 2.08 ERA in 38 games on the mound.<\/p>\n

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In 2023, Karinchak recorded a 3.23 ERA across 44 outings out of the bullpen. He was an important pitcher in Cleveland, but then the injuries started to make a significant impact in his career.<\/p>\n

Karinchak dealt with a shoulder injury early in 2024. He ended up landing in free agency during the offseason before the 2025 campaign and signed a deal with the Chicago White Sox. Although he performed well in the minor leagues with Chicago, Karinchak was released during the season.<\/p>\n

The Braves are now set to give him an opportunity to make the MLB roster. If he is on the Opening Day squad, Karinchak could prove to be the X-factor in the bullpen. He has found success for the most part when healthy at the MLB level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Braves have a number of questions to answer heading into the season. Atlanta’s bullpen may be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,49,51,63453,4,104,80],"class_list":["post-610059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-braves","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-atlantabraves","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-james-karinchak","tag-mlb","tag-raisel-iglesias","tag-robert-suarez"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116183202343495362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}