Doubleheaders always make for interesting match-ups, when teams’ pitching staffs are stretched to the limit. But when the Braves and Mets hook up for a day-night affair Tuesday at Turner Field, it’ll be a prospect-palooza.
Both the Braves and Mets are scheduled to feature prized young pitchers making their first major league starts.
Braves left-hander Alex Wood is scheduled to make his first major league start in the first game at 1:10 p.m., after spending the past three weeks in the bullpen. Highly touted Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler has been called up to make his major league debut in the second game at 7:10 p.m.
The fact that both have Georgia ties just thickens the plot.
The barking in the ballpark Tuesday will be for Wood, a second-round pick last year out of the University of Georgia. Wheeler has family and friends coming from both Smyrna, where he was born and lived until the eighth grade, and Dallas, where he played for East Paulding High School.
“From what I hear, it’s going to be a huge turnout,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler was speaking from a dais set up in the auxiliary clubhouse at Turner Field, the same locker room where he once dressed for a pre-draft workout in 2009.
Wheeler was the No. 6 overall draft pick that year by the San Francisco Giants who traded him to the Mets for Carlos Beltran in 2011. The hype machine in New York has been pushing him since spring training, fueled by the success of Mets rookie Matt Harvey, who came with an infield hit of a perfect nine innings on May 7. He is second in the NL in ERA (2.04). Harvey faces Wood in the first game Tuesday.
Newsday columnist Neil Best wrote that “in a season that is all about the future, nothing — not even sweeping the Yankees — can compare in importance to seeing Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler pitch on the same day.”
On Monday, Wheeler was asked about expectations he would be the savior for a team on pace for 99 losses.
“I don’t think I’m the savior at all,” Wheeler said to an audience of 20 or so media representatives and several TV cameras. “We’ve got great arms here.”
Shortly thereafter, Wood spoke to a half dozen reporters gathered around his locker. One of the questions he was asked was whether he would shave the beard he’s grown in solidarity with Braves relievers.
Wood’s answer: After the game Monday, when he’ll take his temporary break from the bullpen to spot start in place of Brandon Beachy.
The Braves’ low key approach — their announcement Wood would start came only when manager Fredi Gonzalez was prompted in his post-game media scrum Sunday — and a three-week head start on his first major league start has Wood calling Tuesday “business as usual.”
“It’s exciting because it’ll be my first start, but at the same time it’s nothing compared to how it was when I made my debut,” said Wood, a starter throughout his career who managed a scoreless inning in relief in his debut May 30. “I’m excited to get out there tomorrow.”
Wheeler had gotten congratulatory tweets from both Chipper Jones, his favorite Brave growing up, and Mets legend Doc Gooden. But his best advice might have come from Steve Kline, a veteran of five major league teams who was Wheeler’s pitching coach in Single-A with the Giants.
“He said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t go up there and look up because all the lights and the fans and everybody will be moving and it’ll make you sick,’” Wheeler said. “I think he actually said he threw up off the back of the mound his first time. I’ll always remember that for some reason.”
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