NEW YORK – Spencer Schwellenbach’s masterpiece began with a battle with one of his idols. And as Schwellenbach dazzled, inning by inning, he put together one of the finest performances you will see from a rookie starting pitcher. He further proved he belongs in the major leagues.
The Braves, stuck in their struggles, badly had to stop the bleeding. They desperately needed a momentum-turning day, something that could flip them in the other direction.
It came from a 24-year-old rookie pitcher who was a shortstop and a closer in college.
The catch: This rookie is unlike the typical young arm. He is more polished and more mature. He could be Atlanta’s next great young arm.
And on Saturday, Schwellenbach’s seven shutout innings led the Braves to a 4-0 victory over the Mets at Citi Field. The right-hander struck out a career-high 11 batters.
With the win, the Braves snapped a season-high six-game losing streak. They jumped back into second place in the National League East standings and into the top wild card spot, as they lead the Mets by half a game in both.
“We had lost, what, six in a row?” Schwellenbach said. “(A win) was needed more than ever, and I kind of dug a little bit deeper today, because we needed that.”
Five observations:
1. Moments after throwing his final warm-up pitch before the bottom of the first inning, Schwellenbach looked up and ahead. The man staring back at him: Francisco Lindor – someone Schwellenbach, a former shortstop, idolized during his days as a position player.
Schwellenbach began his outing with three consecutive balls to Lindor: A four-seam fastball outside, a sinker far below the strike zone and a splitter that tailed far outside of the zone.
“The three balls I threw to him to start the game, I felt something I’ve never felt before on the mound, just seeing him step in there and realizing that this is the guy I used to watch all the time. Countless videos,” Schwellenbach said. “And then once that left my head, I was good.”
Schwellenbach threw his fourth pitch for a strike. Then he got Lindor to fly out to left field on his fifth pitch.
From there, he dominated.
He allowed only two hits. While striking out 11 batters, he didn’t walk any. He retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced and finished his outing by setting down 10 in a row. Lindor went 0-for-3 against Schwellenbach.
“Obviously, it was his best game of the year,” catcher Sean Murphy said. “But it feels like he’s improved every time out. I don’t say that lightly. I feel like he’s gotten more comfortable and we’ve kind of narrowed it in on what we want to do with him. We needed this one today, and Spencer took care of it.”
When Schwellenbach played shortstop in college at Nebraska, he’d watch videos of Lindor. By paying attention to the finer points of Lindor’s smooth fielding, Schwellenbach picked up the technique of having what he called a “late glove.” In simple terms: Instead of flashing the glove early and compromising yourself if the ball takes a bad hop, show the glove as late as possible.
“That’s something that I picked up on,” Schwellenbach said, “and I got really good in the field because of it.”
Years later, he’s in the majors as a pitcher. And through his first 10 starts, he has a 4.06 ERA. He’s helped the Braves reach this point. Saturday was his best effort thus far.
That it contained moments against Lindor – someone he’s long admired – made it much better.
“Just the way he plays the game, it’s something that, honestly, every infielder looks up to,” Schwellenbach said. “I’ve been asked: Who have you been most starstruck by? And today, it was him. Just because when I played shortstop, everything I did was what he did. I tried to do the things he did.”
2. A question to ponder: Where would the Braves be without Schwellenbach?
“He’s been awesome,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said in his answer to the query. “Just the consistency, the innings he’s covered, how he’s done it has been really, really good.”
At Nebraska, Schwellenbach didn’t begin pitching until 2021 – the year the Braves drafted him. And this season, he’d only made two starts at Double A before they called him up.
Given all of that, his success is even more remarkable.
“Being an ex-position guy and really not having as much time as a pitcher as other guys, you don’t really know what to expect,” Matt Olson said. “I think I kind of viewed him as more of a kind of not as polished pitcher, just from hearing the backstory – being a position guy and not having a ton of time in the minors. But clearly (that’s) not the case.”
What separates Schwellenbach from your average rookie arm?
“I think he’s composed,” Murphy said. “He does a lot of the little things well, so there’s no worries about some of the other things, and it just allows him to go out and focus on making his pitches.”
And on Saturday, Schwellenbach executed those pitches – all six of them. His four-seamer topped out at 98.7 mph, which is the hardest he’s thrown all season. Before this start, he’d never thrown a pitch above 98.0 mph. He hurled four of them in this start.
This month alone, Schwellenbach has six innings of one-run baseball against the Phillies, seven frames of one-run ball against the Padres and seven scoreless against the Mets.
“There’s no fear involved,” Olson said. “He goes at guys, he throws strikes. He knows what kind of pitches to make, when to expand a little bit. I’m sure the hitting side of it kind of helps him out with that, the fact that he did it for so long.
You might be surprised by Schwellenbach, but he hasn’t surprised himself.
“I’m a confident person and I expect to throw good every time I get the ball,” he said. “I think that’s why I have success, so I’m not surprised by it.”
3. Some context on Schwellenbach’s start:
- He’s one of only seven Braves pitchers to throw at least seven scoreless innings, with 11 or more strikeouts, at age 24 or younger. The others: Spencer Strider, Alex Wood, Julio Teheran, Kevin Millwood, Steve Avery, Juan Pizarro.
- He has 60 strikeouts through the first 10 games of his career, which tied Brandon Beachy for the second-most strikeouts by a Braves arm in the first 10 games of his career. Ian Anderson holds the record, with 64.
- He became the latest Braves pitcher to tally double-digit strikeouts in a game at age 24 or younger. The others, since 2015: Strider, Bryce Elder, Huascar Ynoa, Max Fried, Aaron Blair, Matt Wisler, Mike Foltynewicz, Shelby Miller, Teheran.
“Obviously, the stuff is really good,” Olson said. “But his demeanor on the mound and in between innings and stuff has been the most impressive (thing) to me. Since day one, just no emotion – go out, compete and then that’s it, good or bad. That’s a quality that you can’t really teach or find all the time, so it’s been the biggest thing that I’ve seen.”
4. In the fourth inning, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson went back-to-back to put the Braves on the board.
Ozuna notched his 30th homer. Olson homered for the first time since July 7.
Olson, who has had a rough season, has shown encouraging signs the last few days.
“It’s a constant grind, obviously,” Olson said. “It’s always going to be like that throughout the course of a season. You’re happy with any result you get.”
5. Perhaps this victory can help the Braves take a deep breath and relax.
“Any time you’re slapping hands at the end, it’s good. It hasn’t been the best run for us, but it doesn’t change what we do in here, how we approach each day,” Olson said. “We’re looking to get a win every day.”
On this day, Schwellenbach was at his best.
“When we needed a win,” Snitker said. “I mean, that’s probably an understatement. We needed a win today.”
Stat to know
2016 - By winning today, the Braves avoided losing a seventh straight game. It would’ve been their first seven-game skid since August of 2016, when they were fully entrenched in a rebuild.
Quotable
“It’s kind of nice to shake hands. Forgot how. It’s been a while.”-Snitker, jokingly, about experiencing the handshake line again after winning a game
Up next
On Sunday, Reynaldo López will lead the Braves into the series finale as Atlanta will try to split with New York. Lefty David Peterson will start for the Mets. First pitch is at 1:40 p.m.
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