MIAMI – In the weeks leading up to spring training, the fifth-starter discussion centered around Michael Soroka and Ian Anderson. Toward the end of camp, prospects Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster took center stage.
All along, Bryce Elder kept pitching. When the Braves optioned him this spring, he kept pitching, kept working. He waited his turn, just like last year.
And now he’s taking full advantage of it.
Elder on Tuesday highlighted Atlanta’s 6-0 win over the Marlins at loanDepot Park. The Braves are 20-10.
Five observations from the win:
1. When the Braves optioned Elder last year, he soon received “the best advice I ever got.” It came from Devon Travis, the former major leaguer who was part of Triple-A Gwinnett’s coaching staff last season and is now a minor-league instructor with the organization.
“Play the long game,” Travis told Elder.
As he recalled this, Elder – who had just shut out the Marlins over seven innings – added this:
“Not being arrogant – I plan to play this game for a long time, as long as I can. So I just try to be prepared every day and see where it gets me and see how long I can play.”
Elder allowed only three hits. He struck out six batters and didn’t walk any.
Dating to last season, Elder has a 1.70 ERA over his last 11 starts.
“I said to (pitching coach Rick Kranitz) afterwards, “It’s kind of nice watching him mature here in the big leagues and kind of figure things out,’” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s come a long way in a year. Where he’s at and maturing into a major-league pitcher, it’s been really, really good. Credit to him – his dedication, work ethic and all he’s got going.”
No matter the circumstances, Elder has stayed even-keel while working hard. He’s been optioned before, but he comes back better.
“Nothing really affects him and then when his name is called, he just knows he has a job to do and he does it each time out,” Michael Harris II said. “He just keeps doing him. A lot of people don’t notice, but we notice for sure.”
2. A week ago, Elder faced this same lineup. It didn’t go well, as he surrendered a season-high four earned runs, which included three homers.
This time, he dominated.
While shutting out the Marlins, Elder racked up 10 ground-ball outs. (Or 11 if you count the extra out on a nice 1-6-3 double play that he started.)
“That sinker was unbelievable,” Snitker said. “He had a good slider, I thought, from the get go, too, but the movement on that sinker was just crazy. Crazy.”
“I think the past couple starts, (the sinker had) been just OK,” Elder said. “It got the job done, in a sense, but tonight it was really good and hopefully will continue to build on that.”
3. Facing Sandy Alcantara, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, the Braves’ offense did enough for Elder. Atlanta scored three runs off Alcantara.
The best part for the Braves: They got him out of the game after five innings. They made him throw 103 pitches.
“He’s a tough ride,” Snitker said. “He just wasn’t as sharp as he normally is. Any time you get him out of a game like we did, that’s huge because he, as we’ve seen, can be on top of you for nine innings and not let you breathe.”
Alcantara has struggled early in this season. The Braves collected six hits and walked three times.
In the second inning, Ozzie Albies launched a solo shot. In the third, a run scored on Eddie Rosario’s double-play ball. And in the fifth, Rosario hit a run-scoring single.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game – always,” Snitker said. “It was good. We kind of got his pitch count up a little bit and he wasn’t the sharpest today, but he’s one of the best pitchers in the game.”
Atlanta added three runs in the eighth inning.
4. You hear this from pitchers a lot: Hitting is hard. Make hitters hit.
This goes along with Elder’s focus on throwing strikes and trusting his stuff.
“One-hundred percent,” Elder said. “And I think a lot of it is, when I do struggle, I forget that. I try to be too perfect. So I think just trust it and going after guys, and hopefully I’ll continue to have success.”
Elder has 11 consecutive outings of at least five innings pitched.
5. Marcell Ozuna, who has struggled this season, went 2-for-4 with a walk. One of those hits came off Alcantara.
In his career, Ozuna is 8-for-17 versus Alcantara.
Stat to know
1.75 - Elder’s 1.75 ERA through six starts (36 innings) ranks fourth in all of baseball among qualified starters, and second in the NL.
Quotable
“I was thinking that to myself in the outfield, just watching the ball move. Nothing he throws is straight. It’s pretty much unhittable. A lot of people don’t put (his pitches) in the air and he gets a lot of balls on the ground.” - Harris on Elder’s nasty sinker
Up next
On Wednesday, Kyle Wright will pitch against Miami lefty Braxton Garrett in a game that begins at 6:40 p.m.
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