Mike Foltynewicz and Eric Stults showed Monday why the Braves might be comfortable with either rounding out the starting rotation, and also why the pending decision might not be as clear as it appears.
Foltynewicz allowed five hits and two runs in the first 3 2/3 innings, and Stults gave up just one hit and one walk over the last five innings of the Braves’ 4-2 Grapefruit League win over the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was pleased to see Foltynewicz stay calm and get the next batter after Miguel Cabrera’s ground-rule double put two on with two out in the third and after Yoenis Cespedes’ homer in the fourth.
“That was terrific,” Gonzalez said. “His fastball was on, his breaking ball was good — he did a nice job….. And then Stults did a nice job. It just goes to show you, you don’t have to throw 100 miles an hour. If you change speeds and you get ahead of people in counts, you can get people out.”
Foltynewicz is a top prospect with a high-90s fastball, while Stults is a well-traveled left-hander who relies on location and keeping hitters off balance. They are competing along with Cody Martin for the last spot in the starting rotation, after Gonzalez announced 10 days earlier that Wandy Rodriguez would be the fourth starter.
It’s been an up-and-down spring for Foltynewicz, who has a 6.35 ERA in five starts and has given up 20 hits (three homers), 12 runs (eight earned) and eight walks with 12 strikeouts. At times, he’s shown flashes of dominance. Other times, he’s look less-than-ready for the rigors of starting every five days in the major leagues.
Stults, a non-roster invitee, has crafted a 1.89 ERA in five Grapefruit League outings (one start), allowing 17 hits, five runs (four earned) and only four walks with seven strikeouts in 19 innings.
Statistically, it’s clear who has the edge between Stults and Foltynewicz. Stults signed a minor league contract and can opt out of the deal April 3 if he’s not going to make the opening-day roster, so it seems fairly safe to assume that, barring a trade, the veteran will get the rotation spot or begin the season in the bullpen.
Asked after Monday’s game if he felt he’d done enough to win the fifth-starter job, Stults said, “I think so. I mean, that’s up to them to decide. We still have a little ways to go, but hopefully I’m making the decision tough, at least. Like I said at the beginning, I think competition generally will make this team better, will make guys better. So whatever they decide to do, I feel like I at least gave myself an opportunity to make this team.”
Stults indicated that he’d also accept a bullpen job if the Braves wanted to go that way.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I haven’t had a lot of experience in the pen. I’ve had really one year where I spent time in the pen; that was in the minor leagues. But like I said, I’ll pitch whatever inning they give me the ball. If that’s what’s got to happen for me to make this team, I’m OK with it.”
Only two of Foltynewicz’s five starts could be classified as good outings, but those two came within his past three starts. He showed more progress Monday despite giving up plenty of hard-hit balls for outs.
“I was throwing everything down and getting myself under control and going out there and being a pitcher instead of a thrower,” he said of Monday’s performance. “Fredi’s been telling me that, and (pitching coach) Roger (McDowell). I had my time when I could just go out there and throw it hard, and wouldn’t get hit. Those times are gone. Especially if you go out and face a lineup like this, you go out there and try and throw hard, it’s going to get hit a long ways. I was using all my pitches out there today. It was fun.”
After Cabrera’s 400-foot-plus double bounced over the fence near center field, Foltunewicz struck out Victor Martinez with two runners in scoring position to end the third inning. And after Cespedes’ fifth homer of the spring, he struck out Alex Avila for the second out of the fourth inning.
“Just the little things like that,” Foltynewicz said. “I got lucky enough and that ball bounced over the fence; probably in the past I’d go out there (after that) and get upset and try to throw as hard as I can, and that’s when I start walking people and getting a little wild and leaving pitches over the plate….. Those are baby steps and we’re going in the right direction.”
Gonzalez told Foltyniewicz he was bringing in reliever Jim Johnson in to get the last out of the fourth inning – he did so on a one-pitch fly out – only because the Braves wanted the veteran setup man to pitch in consecutive games for the first time this spring with opening day a week away.
The decision on the final rotation spot comes this week – the Braves break camp after their last Grapefruit League game Saturday – and Gonzalez kept a poker face when reporters asked about it. Foltynewicz pitched most of the last two innings of the 2014 season out of the Astros bullpen in his first major league callup, and has the power arm to be an effective reliever.
But if he doesn’t get a spot in the opening-day rotation, the Braves must decide whether it’d be best for him and for the team to use him in a relief role rather than send him back to Triple-A to continue developing as a starter.
“If we feel like there’s no need for him to go back to the minor leagues and he could make us better whether he’s in the rotation or the bullpen….” Gonzalez said. “We’ll talk about it. All that stuff. We don’t know yet. We’ve talked about it a little, but not that much.”
