Don't know if you've heard but the Braves offensive futility is taking twitter by storm. In a season where the Yankees are last, the White Sox are in first, and the Houston Astros have a .286 winning percentage it is the Braves offense that everyone is talking about. But you're not here for that so lets get down to business.
After facing a struggling David Price, who returned to form unfortunately, the Braves square off against RHP Steven Wright. You take a look at his numbers and they stand out. The righty has accumulated a 1.40 ERA but if you dig a little deeper you can see that he's been a little fortunate. His 3.56 FIP and 4.16 xFIP paint us a picture of a pitcher who has gotten a bit lucky through his first 3 starts. For those looking for the Braves to end their homerless campaign against Wright you need to hope you get 2015 Wright and not 2016 Wright who has drastically reduced his HR/FB rate to 6.3% and is inducing a near 50% GB%. Despite being a righty expect a right hand heavy lineup due to Wright's reverse splits (.154/.353/.231 vs L, .241/.313/.293 vs R). Braves will need to be patient, take their walks (3.72BB/9) and pray to Jobu because Wright gets even better with men on base (.219/.286/.219). Wright features 3 pitches: fastball, curveball, and a knuckleball but as one can imagine he throws his knuckleball 87% of the time. Good news for the Braves is that Wright has just been good at home, as opposed to being great on the road. It's the perfect recipe for a long night offensively and based on how this season has gone I fully expect the Braves to score 6.
Facing off against him will be Bud Norris who is looking to rebound from a horrific start against the New York Mets. It took him 88 pitches to get through 4 innings (4IP 5H 5R 4ER 2BB 4K 2HR).
Bud Norris is indeed a pitcher. I have seen him throw a fastball just not very well. Norris's peripheral stats paint a picture that he is getting a bit unlucky as his FIP (5.82) is almost a full run lower than his ERA (6.75) however neither are particularly good. Norris has struggled mighty with his command early in the season which has seen his walk rate balloon up to 3.80BB/9 - his highest since 2010. It's also a very small sample to work with but his HR/FB rate is also a career high (18.5%). That said Bud has a lot of experience against Boston and has done well for the most part against players not named Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez.
Here's how the Braves will line up
Here's how the #Braves will line up for tonight's 7:10 ET first pitch in Boston. https://t.co/6P9TTQWfS1 pic.twitter.com/i60KPTDoU9
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 27, 2016
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, April 27, 2016, 7:10 pm ET
Location: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
TV: Fox Sports South, MLB.tv (streaming)
Radio: 680 AM, 93.7 FM (Flagship in Atlanta), WYAY 106.7, Braves Radio Network