Braves will ride with struggling Raisel Iglesias, which makes sense for now

You might dismiss it as “Well, what else is Snitker going to say?” And it may not feel like a very satisfying position for the Braves to stand pat with a player performing well below standards and impeding the team’s chances of winning, especially when the Braves are fighting just to get to .500 after their 0-7 start.

But there are reasons to think that this is the team’s actual course of action and, further, that it makes some sense.

Snitker gave one of them as he addressed media in the PNC Park visiting dugout — Iglesias’ slider.

“That’s a little concerning and I think it’s one pitch pretty much,” he said as he toggled between “a little concerning” and “not concerned yet.” “I think it’s something maybe that they’ll dive in on and see maybe it’s a delivery thing or it’s the execution of really the one pitch.”

Of his six home runs allowed, four of them were off sliders. On each of the four, it appeared that Iglesias failed to execute properly. He left the pitches in spots where they could be hammered and they were, including a two-run bomb hit Thursday night in the top of the ninth inning by Cincinnati’s Rece Hinds.

Through Thursday, opposing batters were 5-for-9 against the slider, .556. Last year, the opposing batting average against his slider was .163 (7-for-45) with one home run.

“It’s like everybody else,” Snitker said of the norm of players going through slumps. “Except their job, they go through a tough spell, it hurts.”

The numbers would back up Snitker’s contention that the problem lies with Iglesias’ slider. With his other three pitches, Iglesias has been business as usual.

Batters are hitting .200 against his four-seam fastball, .190 against his changeup (his best pitch) and .154 against his sinker.

If he gets his slider fixed, Iglesias should be fine and back to raising his arms to the skies after another save like we’re used to.

By some markers, he’s actually pitching pretty well. His strikeout/walk ratio is an excellent 9.0 and his WHIP is 1.067, both suggestive of a dominant start to the season. Further, in his four appearances before Wednesday, he seemed to have figured out his problems. In four innings, he didn’t give up a run and allowed two hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

However, six home runs allowed in 15 innings do have a way of getting one’s attention.

It’s not unreasonable to think that Iglesias has gotten a little unlucky thus far in 2025 (or a lot unlucky) after being a little lucky in 2024, that hitters have made him pay for his mistakes with unlikely efficiency. In 2022 and 2023, Iglesias threw 326 sliders and only one of them resulted in a home run. It is doubtful that only one of the 326 were mistake pitches that were prime to be crushed.

It takes some good fortune for a player to have a career year, as Iglesias did last year. Maybe this is the law of averages evening things out.

Another part of the equation is that there really isn’t an obvious replacement for Iglesias in the closer role.

A year ago, Joe Jiménez might have been a more obvious candidate to take over the closer job, even if temporarily.

Pierce Johnson has been strong so far this season (2.57 ERA and .857 WHIP, no home runs allowed in 14 innings). Daysbel Hernandez would seem another possibility. But here’s a question: Given Iglesias’ history of success, who would you rather have on the mound with the Braves three outs from a win?

What would seem like a logical outcome is that Iglesias regains command of his slider – maybe he starts throwing his changeup more – and this home-run barrage recedes into the distance.

On the other hand, it is plausible that we’re witnessing the beginning of the end for Iglesias, who is in the final year of his contract. At 35, he’s not a young pitcher. It could be that, as his sample size grows, his performance remains substandard and home runs continue to fly out of parks across the country.

But, for the foreseeable future, the Braves will continue sending him out to close.

Snitker’s position seems reasonable.

It’s concerning but not an actual concern.

At least not yet.