Twelve-year veteran starter Brandon McCarthy likes what he sees from a Braves rotation many consider a wild card candidate in 2018.
McCarthy, who wrapped up his spring Monday against the Yankees at SunTrust Park, is on his seventh team. He’s by far the team’s oldest starter at 34, and believes the youth behind him is primed to make an impact.
“There’s a ton of potential,” McCarthy said. “Julio (Teheran)’s established, what he can do, where he can go. (Sean) Newcomb we don’t know yet completely but watching him, he’s impressive as all get out. There’s a lot there that can really become a frontline guy in major league baseball at some point. Same with Folty (Mike Foltynewicz), obviously.”
McCarthy was notably high on the team’s No. 1 pitching prospect Mike Soroka throughout the spring, singling him out as one who carries himself well-beyond his 20-year-old peers.
While the spring finale wasn’t an ideal finish – McCarthy gave up homers to Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorius – he had a mostly solid spring.
The homers were a bit of an outlier for a player who gave up just five in 92-2/3 innings a season ago in the power-filled National League West.
“You’re moving through trying to get some things accomplished, get yourself ready for the season,” he said. “But they do become long and mentally, you don’t lose interest so much, but it’s not the same. It’s not the same ramp up, it’s not the same nerves.”
The rotation’s outlook hinges on how the group implements adjustments, McCarthy said. That bodes double for the Newcombs and (eventually) Sorokas of the world who haven’t yet fortified their spots in the bigs.
“For all of us it’s going to be putting it together as the season goes along and get things kind of coordinated, integrating things that the front office starts to bring in, scouting reports, things that maybe these guys haven’t done before,” McCarthy said. “Otherwise, the baseline talent is there. It’s just going to be execution of it over the next six months.”
