At some point the Braves are going to have to decide if touted pitching prospect Aaron Blair is better off learning in the minors rather than getting beat up in the big leagues.
It looks as if the time to send down Blair is now after the Mets roughed up the rookie on the way to an 8-6 victory on Friday at Turner Field. Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said the team’s brass would meet Saturday to decide if Blair would make his next start but all signs pointed to Blair going back to Triple-A Gwinnett.
The Mets chased Blair after 4 1/3 innings, making the fifth time in 11 starts that Blair lasted less than five. Blair gave up a three-run homer to James Loney in the fifth inning that put the Braves in an 8-0 hole that they couldn’t overcome in spite of a spirited rally with six runs in the bottom of the inning.
“He didn’t give in, he just missed his mark too many times pretty much,” Snitker said.
The Braves acquired Blair from the Diamondbacks in December 2015 as part of the Shelby Miller trade. The former first-round pick out of Marshall University was considered to be close to major-league ready and entered this season rated as the second-best pitching prospect in the Braves’ organization.
Blair had three promising starts after the Braves promoted him from Triple-A Gwinnett in April. But he’s been mostly ineffective since then and now has a 7.99 ERA.
“It’s a learning process,” Blair said.It’s taking a little bit longer than I had hoped or expected. It just comes with the territory and you’ve got to bounce back and get back out there.”
Blair has allowed a home run in three of his last four starts and seven total after he’d given up just one homer over his first six starts. Snitker pulled Blair after he followed the homer to Loney in the fifth with a five-pitch walk to Wilmer Flores.
Blair allowed seven hits and eight runs over 4 1/1 innings with three walks (one intentional) and two strikeouts. He threw 48 strikes among 72 total pitches.
“If you look at his strike-ball ratio it’s pretty good but you can be wild in the strike zone, too, and missing your mark,” Snitker said. “The 0-2 breaking ball to Loney, that was an 0-0 pitch not an 0-2 pitch. It’s just things like that. The command, although with the strikes, it wasn’t good and he got hurt with it.”
After a perfect first inning, Blair allowed two runs before recording an out in the second.
Neil Walker singled, Blair hit James Loney with a pitch and Wilmer Flores rapped an RBI double to left-center. Blair actually caught a break because the ball bounced over the wall, forcing Loney to stop at third. He ended up scoring, anyway, on Travis d’Arnaud’s ground out.
Blair gave up three more runs in the fourth inning. Walker led of with a single and Loney followed with a double. After Flores grounded out, Snitker decided to intentionally walk Michael Conforto to load the bases and get to d’Arnaud. He singled to score two runs and pitcher Steven Matz hit a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.
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