At this point last year, Braves pitcher Kyle Wright came with question marks – and some of them popped up in his own head, too. Can I still do this? No one knew what he would be able to provide.
Now, Wright is an example for pitchers who might not have developed as quickly as they would have hoped. He is a beacon of hope for those who may feel like their clock in this game is ticking and like they may never reach their full potential.
“I think that you’re just never as far as you think you are,” Wright said Tuesday about his message to those pitchers. “When I was struggling, I got to as low as I did. I felt like where I’m at now was forever away. And really it wasn’t.”
As it turned out, a few tweaks separated Wright from being an underachieving pitcher to becoming one of MLB’s better breakout stories. He worked with Zach Sorensen, the Braves’ mental-performance coach. At Triple-A Gwinnett, he made mechanical changes, began to throw his curveball more and gained confidence.
It led him to this: In the regular season, Wright led all of MLB with 21 wins, which was three more than any other pitcher. He posted a 3.19 ERA. Perhaps most impressive, he showed poise during the difficult situations that used to send him spiraling.
This is a new Kyle Wright, one who has shown struggling pitchers that you’re never that far away from a turnaround.
“I think you’ve just got to keep pushing,” Wright said. “It’s pretty cliché, but still pretty true, just keep going.”
On Wednesday, Wright will face the Phillies for the fourth time this season. In three regular-season starts against them, Wright allowed six earned runs over 19 innings. Once merely starting-pitching depth, Wright now is someone on whom the Braves will rely in their National League Division Series.
“Just how it’s a process,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said when asked what others could learn from Wright. “I mean, you don’t just show up here, and you don’t show up as the finished product. … I think a lot of guys want to -- they all sign and they want to be here because in the industry, they see a lot of that. And it just doesn’t work that way. In some cases it does. In Kyle’s case, it was good for him to spend the whole year in Triple-A last year.”
In Wednesday’s Game 2, Wright will face Zack Wheeler, the metro Atlanta-born righty who has exceeded all expectations since he signed a large contract with the Phillies. Wheeler, an NL Cy Young candidate last season, posted a 2.82 ERA over 26 starts in the regular season this year. In three starts against the Braves, Wheeler surrendered six earned runs over 20 innings.
This postseason is different for Wright. “Definitely feel a lot more confident, for sure,” he said. Last year, one didn’t know how he would pitch or if he even would play a large role for the Braves as they chased a World Series title. In Game 4 of last year’s World Series, Wright held the Astros to a run over 4-2/3 innings.
And here was Wright this year, sitting at a table in the press conference room, discussing his Game 2 start and the journey that led him here.
He’s the author of one of baseball’s better and more heartwarming turnarounds this season.
“It is cool,” Wright said. “I wish I would have got it going a lot sooner and I didn’t have to do this. But for me it just makes me proud.”
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