Atlanta Braves: Is Matt Wisler an emerging star?

The Atlanta Braves have been struggling in 2016, but there has been a bright spot in their rotation: Matt Wisler.

Back in April 2015, the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres made a famous trade that was praised by Braves bloggers when it happened. Atlanta sent Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to the Padres for Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and two prospects. One of those prospects was Matt Wisler.

At the time, Wisler was ranked as the 34th best prospect by Baseball America and 41st on Fangraphs. Kiley McDaniels wrote this about Wisler back in December 2014, a few months before the trade.

Wisler works 91-94, touching 95 mph with sink and commands the pitch to both sides of the plate. His two-plane slider is plus, his changeup is above average at times and he also works in a fringy curveball. Scouts rave about his makeup and strike throwing abilities, though his command isn’t quite big league ready, as he ran into trouble in the hitter-friendly PCL leaving the ball up the zone. Some scouts think his build is too slight and that he won’t be able to hold up for 200 innings, with a couple suggested he may end up as a late-inning reliever. The consensus is that he should be able to handle 180 innings as a third or fourth starter.

It only took a couple of months for Wisler to make his debut with Atlanta. On that day, June 15, 2015, he pitched against the Mets and Jacob deGrom at Turner Field, and he held his own, throwing eight innings of six-hit, one-run ball. He didn’t surrender a walk, struck out two batters and earned his first Major League win.

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The remainder of Wisler’s 2015 was up and down. In fact, in his very next game against the Washington Nationals, he only lasted four innings and gave up six runs—four earned—on nine hits and gave up a home run. He finished 2015 with an 8-8 record, 4.71 ERA and 4.93 FIP.

The 2016 season started off slightly rocky for Wisler, but he finished May with five starts—all quality starts—and a record of 2-2. His best start of the month came against the Mets again. This time, he threw eight innings of one-hit ball with two walks and four strikeouts. The Braves won that game 3-0.

In his last game against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 26, Wisler threw a quality start—six innings, three runs—but was the losing pitcher in a 6-2 loss. And in his last three starts—a win, a no decision, and the loss against Milwaukee—he’s struck out seven batters in each game, while limiting his walks.

Wisler likes his four-seam fastball. It’s the pitch he throws the most and the one with which he’s the most successful. It averages around 93-94 mph, as does his sinker, and because he’s able to throw his changeup and slider in the low-to-mid 80s, he’s able to have a good mix of pitches.

And during this past month, he’s increased the usage of his four-seamer while throwing fewer sinkers and sliders.

Having that many pitches in his arsenal works to Wisler’s advantage, but he must use them correctly.

In one of his worst losses of the season (game score of 37), against the Boston Red Sox, Wisler seemingly abandoned his four-seamer (10 percent) and threw more sinkers (44 percent) and sliders (29 percent). That strategy backfired and Wisler was tagged for five runs in five innings on five hits with a home run. He also walked three batters. For a comparison, during his eight-inning, one-hit performance against the Mets on May 3, Wisler threw more four-seamers (37 percent) than sinkers (28 percent) and sliders (21 percent).

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So is Matt Wisler an emerging star? In order to be successful going forward and continue this nice run he’s on, Wisler must use all of his pitches, but use them in the right way. If he does, Wisler will end up being one of the lone bright spots on a struggling Braves team.

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