FanPost

The Night Gavin Floyd Looked Like Greg Maddux

Every Braves fan, casual or die-hard, knows who Greg Maddux was. Everyone knows what Greg Maddux was remembered for. His impeccable control and movement enabled him to baffle every hitter he faced, even in the thick of what is considered to be the steroid era in baseball. Imagine what Maddux's stats would be like if his peak was in this decade of baseball, one in which the consequence of the strikeout was more likely ignored than feared. Maddux would get even less contact off his masterful 2-seam fastball and curve. One of his best games ever, Maddux shut the Cubs out on July 22, 1997, on just 76 pitches, 63 of which were strikes. He notched in a Game Score of 79 for this, and a WPA of .418. Everyone will remember:

Not many Braves fans, neither casual nor die-hard, will remember who Gavin Floyd is by the time 2014 becomes a dark spot in Braves lore. Gavin Floyd was signed in the 2013-14 offseason to a 1 year, major league contract worth $4 million. Floyd's journey back from a Tommy John surgery was given new life with this contract, and his journey was complete with his 2014 debut against St. Louis on May 6, by going 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 1 run, and striking out 5. Gavin's last start could be considered his most dominant one, although it was cut short due to a fracture in his olecranon (the tip of his throwing elbow). He went 6 innings, giving up 2 hits, no runs, and struck out 6. Gavin had used just 64 pitches to get through 6 innings and 1 pitch into the leadoff man of the 7th inning, Jayson Werth. He also had a WPA of .340. He received a Game Score of 73.

Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit Str Ctct StS StL GB FB LD Unk GSc IR IS WPA aLI RE24
Greg Maddux, W (14-3) 9 5 1 1 0 6 0 2.36 31 76 63 33 9 21 13 12 5 0 79 0.418 1.08 3.7

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/21/2014.

Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit Str Ctct StS StL GB FB LD Unk GSc IR IS WPA aLI RE24
Gavin Floyd, W (2-2) 6 2 0 0 1 6 0 2.65 20 63 45 24 10 11 7 6 3 0 73 0.340 0.97 2.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/21/2014.

Watching Gavin's performance that night reminded me of Maddux's stuff more than any other pitcher's stuff on any one night. Whether or not Gavin is resigned to give a veteran presence to the 5th spot in the rotation in 2015, I felt this start in particular should have been commemorated at least once.

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