If you’ve been active on Twitter, you may have seen a bit of shadow (actually a lot of shadow) cast on the Braves pitching development staff by former farm trader Lucas Sims.
Sims, who is now a member of the Cincinatti Reds after the Braves traded him for Adam Duvall, is definitely starting to enjoy some great success from the league after a few rough years with Atlanta as a boy. The Reds have transformed him into a full-time reliever, and so far this season he has a 1.23 ERA over seven appearances (7.1 innings), which Braves fans are asking themselves – where was this when he was in Atlanta? Here’s how he reacted.
Make the Reds actually busy making their pitchers great about what they are good at. ✌🏼
– Lucas Sims (@LSims_) August 8, 2020
Now, Sims could take the high road and let this go – absolutely. It’s not like he’s really proven anything like that in seven innings of work in a short season, where it’s expected the hitters to take some time to catch what we’ve seen so far early. But I do not want to focus here on the salt of Sims. Instead, I want to know if he makes an honest point.
Last year, our Harrison Coburn raised the issue, ask if the Braves have a pitching development problem? And he made some excellent points.
This whole renovation was built on pitching. The Braves brought all their draft picks to pitching and were constantly looking for ways to win over their top league talent for pitching prospects, and so far have only two of their property – Mike Soroka and Max Fried. That’s not all that surprising, but what’s a little worrying is how the prospects who have left the organization have found success – at least more than they had with the Braves – elsewhere. Lucas Sims is an example; Kolby Allard has been surprisingly good for the Rangers early on, and Joey Wentz looked much better in his five starts for the Tigers last year in AA than he did with the Braves.
It’s a small sample size for these guys, and the Braves seem to have already made two aces, with many more young arms on the horizon. However, it is interesting to see that a previous prospect makes a comment like this. Maybe it’s nothing more than salt; I also had a chip on my shoulder when I traded so early in my career. But if this next batch of prospects does not unpack, there may be some truth behind what Sims has to say.
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Photo: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire
