ATLANTA - The Braves have a rotation issue, and with the trade deadline approaching, outside help should be coming at some point. Still, a growing chorus online has pushed a different fix: take Didier Fuentes out of the bullpen and put him back in the starting mix.
That idea makes sense at first glance. It also misses the bigger picture. Right now, Fuentes is giving Atlanta more value as a reliever, and the role is doing real work for his long-term growth.
Since setup man Robert Suarez went on the injured list with right forearm tightness, Fuentes’ importance has only increased. The 21-year-old entered Monday with a 1.47 ERA in relief, which ranked fifth among qualified National League relievers. Those results are impressive on their own, but they also point to something else: this is helping shape him into the starter the Braves still believe he can become.
“It’s helped my development so much,” Fuentes said in Spanish. “In these difficult situations I’m put in, it has really helped me. Like figuring out the sequence, how to pitch to a batter and how to throw him off balance to keep the game going.”
That’s a far cry from what happened a year ago. In four starts last season, Fuentes gave up 20 earned runs in 13 innings and had trouble consistently finding the strike zone.
The raw stuff has always been there. His low release point gives his four-seam fastball exceptional ride, and when he’s pumping it at 98-99 mph, it plays even faster at the top of the zone.
The problem came when hitters forced him to live there. Without reliable secondary pitches to lean on, the margin disappeared.
And for a pitcher built on velocity, that matters. Entering Monday, Fuentes had thrown his four-seam fastball 67.5 percent of the time this season, the fourth-highest usage rate in the league.
His slider accounted for 26.3 percent of his pitches, while his splitter sat at 5.7 percent. He’s still working on that splitter and his curveball, and that development is the key piece here.
Relievers can get by with two good pitches because they usually only have to survive one trip through the order. Starters don’t get that shortcut.
Once hitters see the same fastball-slider combination again and again, they start timing it up. That’s why the Braves need Fuentes to keep sharpening the splitter and curveball before they think about moving him back into the rotation for good.
“My confidence has really grown since I’ve joined the bullpen,” Fuentes said.
The Braves have seen this kind of path work before. Spencer Strider came up as a dominant reliever before shifting into the rotation and becoming one of the sport’s best starters.
Chris Sale followed a similar route early in his career, breaking in as a reliever before turning into one of the game’s most accomplished starters. On Saturday, Sale was named an All-Star for the tenth time.
“It’s instant adrenaline,” Sale said. “Sometimes you’re coming in with runners on base, so you’re thrown into the fire pretty quick.
As a starter, you get into your own mess, and then when you do get there, it’s like, ‘Hey, I’ve been here before.’ So you can work your way out of those situations as a starter.”
Fuentes has long been viewed as one of baseball’s most promising young arms. The Braves showed how much they believed in him when they brought him to the majors just three days after his 20th birthday.
Atlanta may need him in the rotation eventually. But forcing that move now, while he’s thriving in high-leverage relief and still building out his secondary pitches, would risk fixing one issue by creating another.
Still, it’s easy to understand why fans keep imagining him as a starter again. Sale is already thinking down the road.
“I’m gonna try to steal him back next year,” Sale said. “(The team) can have him in the bullpen for this year, but I think long-term, he’s got good enough stuff, he’s got good enough command and poise.”
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