NORTH PORT, Fla. — There aren’t many teams, if they’re being honest with themselves, that could envision sitting there in September and saying, “We’ve had the best rotation in the majors.”
The Braves confidently know it’s a possibility for them. They might actually have MLB’s finest rotation. They might accrue the most strikeouts of any rotation. They might have multiple All-Star starters. They might have two Cy Young contenders, maybe even three.
Expectations are rightfully soaring for this group. The team hasn’t decided on its fifth starter – that spot will be fluid anyway given a season’s realities – but few can match their front four: Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Chris Sale and Charlie Morton.
“(It should be) really good,” third baseman Austin Riley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Strider, he obviously has the (new) curveball, and it’s been really good. Charlie is Charlie. You have a healthy Chris Sale. Max is Max.
“You have four guys who are very elite, and it makes it tough on an opponent going into a three-or-four-game series knowing that they’re getting a stud every time we’re going out there. Playing behind them is fun. I’m super excited to get things going. (President of baseball operations) Alex (Anthopoulos) has done a really nice job piecing it together.”
The Braves felt they were a starter short in October, which contributed to acquiring Sale, a southpaw who once arguably was baseball’s best pitcher. Injuries have disrupted him in recent years, but he’s the healthiest he’s been in some time. His underlying metrics – he’s still inducing soft contact and generating whiffs – indicate his days as an effective starter aren’t finished yet.
Sale finished top six in Cy Young Award voting for seven consecutive seasons (2012-18). The Braves are betting that a form of that pitcher is still in there, even expressing their faith through a two-year extension for the 34-year-old.
“He seems healthy,” Riley said. “You know the fight that’s in him, the dog that’s in him. He’s super competitive. The biggest thing for him is just staying healthy. If he can do that, I think it’s reasonable saying (he looks like his old self).”
The baseball landscape will be following Fried closely this season, given his looming free agency. He knows a career-best year would best serve him and his team’s chances at winning. Fried has two top-five finishes in Cy Young voting, including placing second in 2022. He’ll try to add a third – maybe even win it – along with his second All-Star nod.
“Everything he’s done up to now is unbelievable,” Sale said of Fried, while joking that he’s most jealous of Fried’s 2021 Silver Slugger. “He’s a great dude, great teammate. An unbelievable competitor. Being able to hold down this rotation as long as he has is impressive. I’d like to keep him here for some years, but that’s not up to me.”
The Braves might be conservative with Sale’s workload, so they’ll need Fried to be healthy. Perhaps the only knock on Fried is that he’s had only one season in which he’s exceeded 180 innings. He was limited by a forearm injury last season.
“Max’s biggest thing is just if he stays healthy,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, Fried’s friend and former teammate, recently told The AJC. “That’s literally the only question mark ever that I’d say would surround him. It’d just be like, oh is there a blister here or there – last year, he just kind of got bit by the bug, which stinks. But if he’s healthy, he’s one of the best in the game. I’ve said that for a long time and continue to stand by that.”
Strider, 25, is the betting favorite for the Cy Young. He’s looked the part this spring. Strider has pitched 14 scoreless innings with a 22 strikeouts and four walks. The right-hander has produced consecutive 200-strikeout performances across his first two full major-league seasons. His 281 strikeouts last season were an Atlanta-era record for the Braves. Strider is trying to become the first pitcher since Gerrit Cole (326) and Justin Verlander (300) to reach 300 strikeouts in a season (both achieved such in 2019).
Consider Charlie Morton “ole reliable.” Morton, 40, is entering his fourth season back with the club that drafted him. He had a 3.64 ERA in 163-1/3 innings last season. Morton has averaged 174 innings over the past three seasons, with 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
Morton has made one start during the exhibition season, doing most of his work behind the scenes. He’s expected to pitch in a game Saturday.
“He’s been doing some back-field stuff,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We don’t want Charlie to have to drive down the interstate and everything (for road games in Florida). In this stage of his career, he can do all his work and control it on the back fields.”
If the rotation quartet stays healthy, there isn’t much that would stop the Braves from rolling to a seventh consecutive division title. The games don’t play out on paper, but the team has every reason to be giddy over the possibilities.
“This staff is unbelievable,” Sale said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how this year plays out, all five of us just feeding off each other and getting on a roll and just going.”
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