The first month of the season was disappointing for the Braves in a number of ways, as evidenced by the 12-14 record with which they finished April. But perhaps the biggest disappointment was the pitching of Drew Smyly, the veteran left-hander whom the Braves signed to a one-year, $11 million contract as a free agent.
He has an unsightly ERA of 8.05, a steep rise from his 3.42 ERA last season with San Francisco. He has allowed nine home runs in his first 19 innings as a Brave, a stark contrast to the two homers he allowed in 26-1/3 innings last season.
It’s early, just one month, just four starts, but it’s alarming.
“It’s extremely frustrating when you’re not playing well, but that’s the game of baseball, man,” Smyly said. “It’s very streaky and slumpy. There’s players throughout the year that are going to have really bad months and really good months. And the (players) that last and play a lot of years, they’re able to figure out a way to turn things around.
“I know there’s plenty of time left to do it. There’s obviously a sense of urgency. … A few games don’t define me. I know I can get these guys out. I’ve been doing it for quite a while. It’s just a matter of doing it consistently and every five days go out there and give your team a chance to win. But unfortunately, I haven’t done that.”
Take, for example, his start last weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Truist Park. He lasted just four innings, allowing six runs (five earned) and three home runs. After the first inning, the Braves trailed 5-0.
It was more of the same Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. Smyly again lasted four innings, again allowing six runs (five earned) and three homers. When he left the game, the Braves trailed 5-0, and the sixth Toronto run was on base.
Smyly, who has pitched for six teams in eight big-league seasons, was asked if he feels extra pressure from having a big contract with a new team. He’s the fifth-highest paid Braves player this season.
“I mean, I want to play well, regardless of my contract or regardless of the team,” he said. “You want to prove to everybody what you’re capable of doing – the fan base.
“It’s not fun getting off to a bad start, but it’s a really long season. I’ve been in this situation before, and I know I can rewrite the script and take it to a new level.”
There’s no neat and tidy explanation for what has been going wrong, he said, because “there are so many variables and so many situations throughout the game.” One issue has been a “very inconsistent” cutter, a pitch that should serve as “an equalizer to get guys off my fastball and curveball.”
But “it’s a lot more than just the cutter,” Smyly said. “There are flashes of doing really good, and then there’s flashes of being really bad.”
He doesn’t think he needs to make any “crazy adjustments,” contending: “It’s honestly just bear down a little bit more with men on base and make a few quality pitches when you have a chance, and you get out of the inning. You go back through every game, and it’s not like they’re just hitting rockets here and there. I give up three homers (in each of the past two starts), and that’s a joke. But you make a better pitch on two of those three, and it’s a whole different game.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker cited a couple of factors – too many pitches over the middle of the plate and maybe a bit of rust from Smyly’s stint on the 10-day injured list with left-forearm inflammation between his second and third starts.
“Hopefully, it’s just one of these things where he keeps running out there every five days and finds it,” Snitker said. “I think it’s just a matter now of getting him out there regular … and he’ll get the feel for everything and be effective.”
The Braves signed Smyly, 31, in November based on what they saw in an extremely limited sample size last season – just seven games (five starts) with San Francisco, in which he had 42 strikeouts in 26-1/3 innings. But now he has started only one fewer game with the Braves than he did with the Giants, and the results obviously have been quite different. He has allowed 22 hits and 21 runs (17 earned) in 19 innings, with seven walks and 18 strikeouts. He is 0-2, and the Braves have lost all four of his starts.
“I was feeling really good in spring training. Honestly, I feel really good now,” Smyly said late Friday night. “It’s my job to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win, and when you don’t do that, it hurts. It stinks.
“It’s up to me to turn it around and get back going, and I’m going to have to figure out how to do that.”
