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The Atlanta Braves take on the Miami Marlins tonight for Miami’s 2020 home opener. The Marlins have been the feel-good underdog story so far in this wild Major League Baseball season, but the Braves are looking to take them down a notch this weekend.
Atlanta will have Kyle Wright on the mound for Game 1. Kyle’s coming into the matchup with an 0-2 record accompanied by a 6.75 earned run average (average is calculated for 9 innings) over 12 innings pitched. The Huntsville, Alabama native has gone deeper into the ballgame with every start, throwing six innings at Philadelphia on the 8th of August. Wright surrendered four earned runs & three free passes in the City of Brotherly Love, he also notched three strikeouts.
Wright came into 2020 as the #4 ranked prospect in the Braves organization, even though he’s been at baseball’s highest level all season. In 2020 he’s in the 50th percentile in exit velocity & the 63rd percentile in whiff percentage. He carries a five pitch arsenal, consisting of: slider (35.5% usage), four seamer (24.1% usage), sinker (15.9% usage), changeup (13.2% usage), & curveball (11.4% usage).
Zone tendencies:
Changeup: low & inside, outside the zone-inside to right-handers.
Curveball: low & outside to righties.
Four Seamer: primarily top of the zone with some low & outside to lefties.
Sinker: middle-in for righties.
Slider: high & outside, low & outside. Large percentage thrown outside the zone-away for righties.
In 2020, 38 of his 220 pitches resulted in batted balls. Eleven were barreled, for an average exit velocity of 89.2 mph at a 12.2 degree launch angle.
Keys to a quality start: maintain his trend of low launch angles with a low barrel rate. If he can locate his fastball consistently & get ahead of batters he can use his +slider & sinker to get swing & misses. When runners reach base he has to do a better job of getting quality double-play balls to keep runners out of scoring position, where he has an ERA of 21.60.
LINEUPS
Braves
1. Swanson SS
2. d’Arnaud C
3. Freeman 1B
4. Ozuna DH
5. Markakis RF
6. Duvall LF
7. Camargo 2B
8. Riley 3B
9. Inciarte CF
Marlins
1. Villar SS
2. Aguilar 1B
3. Dickerson DH
4. Joyce LF
5. Anderson LF
6. Cervelli C
7. Alvarez 2B
8. Berti RF
9. Sierra CF
The Daily Braves 