As we continue with our off-season, let’s preview one of the Atlanta Braves most type heavy positions in left handed pitching.
40-man roster
The Braves depth chart is headlined by arguably the best left handed pitcher in baseball in ace Max Fried. Fried, entering the final year of his deal, is coming off of a season where he appeared in just 14 games. His fewest number of big league appearances in a full season since 2018. Behind Fried sits the headline acquisition of Atlanta’s off-season in Chris Sale. Sale, like Fried, is also coming off of an injury shortened 2023.
The only other lefty starter on the club’s 40 man is prospect Dylan Dodd who has appeared in just seven career games at the Major League level.
The Braves left handed bullpen options are made up of journeymen and a couple of the organization’s better relievers. Three of those players are Aaron Bummer, A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek. Minter and Matzek are both coming off of strong years for the Braves whilst Bummer is two years removed from a 2.36 ERA. If Bummer can recapture his 2022 form, that trio will be one of the league’s better left handed reliever combinations.
Outside of that threesome is Ray Kerr, Dylan Lee and Angel Perdomo, all of whom could factor into the Braves bullpen this year. However they look like back end pieces at best based on their career numbers.
Top prospects
It is difficult to envision many, if any, teams being lighter with left handed pitchers in the minors than the Atlanta Braves are. Just two, yes two, of their top 30 prospects on MLBPipeline are southpaws. Dylan Dodd, the highest ranked of the duo comes in at 15th.
Where Dodd figures into the Braves plans this season is an interesting thought. He was drafted in 2021 and turns 26 this June, although he is at best the teams 8th or 9th starting pitcher this year. As a result it is likely he is stuck in the minors for the majority of the year which does in turn make him a potential trade candidate.
Besides Dodd, the only other lefty on the list is Luis De Avila who is just 22 and is coming off of an extremely strong year where he pitched to a 3.26 ERA across Double and Triple-A.
2023 draftees
So you know how we just spoke about how light the Braves are with left handed pitchers in the minors? They addressed that by picking just two lefties in the draft last season. One in 14th round pick Mitch Farris with the other being Riley Frey who was selected in the 19th round.
Farris appeared in 5 games throwing 16 ⅔ innings pitching to a 2.16 ERA between Rookie and Single-A.
Frey was far less impressive as the southpaw posted a 5.57 ERA across his 21 minor league innings.
