Atlanta Braves Making The Team Meter 2011: Pitchers, Week 2

The second week of the Atlanta Braves Making the Team Meter (MTM). Not that many changes from last week, this early in spring it's hard to gauge the inclination of a player to make the team when there's a month worth of spring baseball left. Still, we can look at what is being written and how the players are doing in spring games and try to draw some conclusions. 

There's something wonky with my old arrows, so you get new arrows this week. I've added a new breakdown of the arrows, so tell me if you like that or not. The arrow key is at the bottom.

This year, like last year, the MTM will be initially broken down into two parts -- one for pitchers and one for hitters. Today's installment will cover all the pitchers in camp who might have a chance at making the team. To begin with we'll assume that there is a group that has already made the team, a pretty safe assumption with these guys:

Starters:  Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, and Tommy Hanson (1 spot available)
Relievers:  Peter Moylan, Jonny Venters, George Sherrill, Eric O'Flaherty, and Scott Linebrink (2 spots available)

The battle for the last rotation spot will be a three-headed monster, and the scrum for the final two (really one) bullpen spots will also be a pitched battle.

Player, Position	This Week's Trend	Last Week	Notes and Comments
Juan Abreu, RHP			He has shown good and bad on the mound, walking batters and striking them out. He looks promising, but still probably a year away.
Jairo Asencio, RHP			After a year of not pitching in professional baseball you'd expect him to be a little rusty, but he's actually been pretty good so far. More work like he's been putting in and his chances of making the team get better.
Brandon Beachy, RHP			He got a little roughed up in his first start, but got out of trouble nicely by using the strikeout.
Randall Delgado, RHP			He's warmed up as the emergency pitcher, but today will be the first time he is scheduled to pitch.
Cory Gearrin, RHP			Looked a little shaky in his first spring outing. He's still behind a few other rookies in the race for a bullpen spot.
Lee Hyde, LHP			I have not heard one thing about him this spring, nor seen his name mentioned anywhere. Hasn't made it into a spring game yet.
Craig Kimbrel, RHP			Roughed up by the Mets in his first spring outing, but bounced back in his second. The gun may have been off in his first outing, but it seemed like his velocity was down. It's still early, and perhaps it takes the little guy some time to build up speed (like Wagner).
Stephen Marek, RHP			Very impressive so far. He looks like he might have an inside track on that last bullpen job.
Cristhian Martinez, RHP			He's thrown the most innings of anyone this spring, proving that he does indeed have a rubber arm. I kind of want him in the bullpen as the guy who gets used and abused when we need a mop-up man.
Mike Minor, LHP			Spotless spring debut. He's on the right track.
Jose Ortegano, LHP			Hasn't pitched yet, and I haven't heard a thing about him this spring.
Scott Proctor, RHP			He had the roughest debut so far, but he bounced back nicely in his second outing. Walking a lot of people. Moving him down a notch for now.
Anthony Varvaro, RHP			The beneficiary of some good defense has kept runs off his line, but he's been an interesting surprise, and has shown good velocity. He could be another great reliever pickup off the waiver wire from Seattle. He moves up a notch in my book as a dark horse bullpen candidate.
Michael Broadway, RHP			I was really surprised by his girth and size. He's a big-bodied pitcher. Very shaky in his first outing, bounced back in his second.
Johan Flande, LHP			He hasn't made it into a game yet.
Kenshin Kawakami, RHP			Hey, it only took him three weeks to show up to camp. Who won the pool?
Rodrigo Lopez, RHP			Decent first outing, and he didn't give up a home run.
Brett Oberholtzer, LHP			Lots of buzz about Obe so far this spring. He might win the "most buzz for new pitcher" award. I'm not sure that will translate into a roster spot, as Obe's value is to remain working his way up the ladder as a starter in the minors.
Jay Sborz, RHP			Hasn't pitched yet.
Julio Teheran, RHP			Back spasms have caused him to slow it down this spring. It might be another week or two before we see him in games. The Braves will be VERY cautious with him.
Arodys Vizcaino, RHP			Pitched yesterday and was extremely impressive, showing great early spring velocity, and no ill effects from the elbow tendinitis that sidelined him a little last year.

Arrow Key:
= Chance of making the team is good.
= Chance of making the team is bad.
= Chance of making the team is slightly better than 50-50.
= Chance of making the team is slightly worse than 50-50.

Out of the running for a spot on the team:  Erik Cordier

MTM for the batters will be up tomorrow.