Young Pitching Has Been Atlanta Braves' Biggest Strength So Far In 2016

However dark the cloud, there is always a silver lining. Whoever coined that phrase clearly never had to watch the 2016 Atlanta Braves play baseball. The Braves have a league-low eight wins in 2016 and are clearly in store for a long season that doesn’t figure to get much better. But if there’s one strength for Atlanta thus far, just one thing to point to that gives them the slightest bit of hope, it may be the young pitching on the roster.

As abysmal as the Braves have been offensively this season, they have seen some of their young pitchers show promise, most notably Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair. Wisler had modest results in 19 starts for the Braves last year, but he’s been much improved this season, even if his 1-3 record doesn’t do justice to how well he’s pitched. Wisler has allowed three or fewer runs in four of his six starts this year, including eight shutout innings against the New York Mets in a recent start.

Meanwhile, Blair has just three major league starts under his belt, but he has looked ready to handle the challenges of the big leagues. In just his second major league start, he allowed just one run on two hits over six innings against the Chicago Cubs, a performance that flashed great potential.

Atlanta also has Julio Teheran, who is a more established pitcher, but he is still just 25 years old and someone the Braves can build around. Teheran has shown signs of bouncing back after a modest season in 2015, including a recent performance against the Cubs, baseball’s best team, in which he threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits.

One more young Atlanta pitcher worth noting is Arodys Vizcaino, the team’s closer, not that they have much use for one. Like Teheran, Vizcaino is 25 and more established than the others, but he’s off to a good start in 2016. Vizcaino has collected 19 strikeouts in 12.1 innings while posting a 1.46 ERA, making the Braves think they have their closer of the future already in place.

It’s likely already too late for the Braves to make any noise in 2016 — especially if their offense continues to sputter the way it has all season. But if nothing else, the Braves can at least feel good about the performance of some of their young pitchers. Several of the team’s young arms have been the silver lining to Atlanta’s season, giving the Braves something positive to watch for over the remainder of what will surely be a long 2016 season.