After making five starts, six appearances total, pitching 25 ⅓ innings for the Braves last season, and having moments of brilliance and showing off his electric stuff in each of those games, AJ Smith-Shawver’s season debut yesterday against the Chicago Cubs was highly anticipated, and he didn’t disappoint.
Smith-Shawver pitched 4 ⅓ innings, gave up three hits, no runs, two walks, and struck out four, and looked as good as ever in his season debut with the Braves, and earlier today Braves reporter, insider, and host of ‘From The Diamond’ Grant McAuley explained why he believes AJ isn’t leaving the Braves rotation anytime soon, and why he wouldn’t be surprised to see Smith-Shawver get 4 plus wins in a Braves uniform this season.
“That fifth spot is open and when you’ve got that kind of talent, and clearly the Braves were comfortable enough to say okay even if the results haven’t been there in Triple A we like how you’ve developed your arsenal year over year, and keep in mind they also had enough belief in him to bring him up as a 20-year old last year so it would not surprise me…” Grant said.
Consistency is obviously key for Smith-Shawver along with continuing to fine tune all of his pitches, but AJ’s performance yesterday at the very least probably got him another one, and if he continues to help the Braves get shutout victories, he may lock down that fifth starter spot for the rest of the season.
