Atlanta Braves pitching: Who wins the battle for the fifth rotation spot?

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Spring Training is upon us and the Atlanta Braves really only have a few spots up for grabs on the roster. The one question that remains is with the Braves pitching and who will be the fifth starter.

The Atlanta Braves seem set with Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Kyle Wright to fill the first four spots of the rotation, so that leaves the fifth spot.

Will it go to Michael Soroka, Ian Anderson, or someone like Bryce Elder? Of course, you also have to take into account the unpredictable like Spencer Strider in 2022 solidifying himself in the rotation.

But we’ll ignore that possibility for the sake of this and look at the tale of the tape.

Michael Soroka

Soroka has had a string of bad luck over the last few years. He’s torn his Achilles twice, suffered elbow soreness in 2022, and now is dealing with yet another injury.

Brian Snitker says pitcher Mike Soroka has a tight hamstring, so he hasn’t been practicing yet at spring training. Soroka is here at the facility.
Just a precaution, Snitker says not a big concern. pic.twitter.com/7vyKSfhnjl
— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) February 17, 2023

The injury to the former All-Star, who went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 2019, isn’t seen as that big of a deal, but for someone who has dealt with one thing after another since April 2020, this isn’t encouraging news.

At the tail end of 2022, Soroka pitched a game for Rome in which he threw four innings, striking out eight of the first nine batters he faced, giving Braves’ fans some hope that he had returned to form.

But then there were his starts in Gwinnett, which were inconsistent at best. His first two starts in Gwinnett spanned eight innings, where he gave up 10 hits, six runs and only struck out three.

Then, Soroka dazzled on September 2 when he went four innings, giving up one hit and striking out five. But then fell off again in his last two starts of the year when he gave up nine hits and nine runs in nine innings while striking out nine.

Of course, part of that can be attributed to the last two-and-a-half years, but the inconsistency is still a concern, especially because he showed he could be dominant in two of his six outings.

With that said, Kristen Wong wrote about how the hamstring shouldn’t be that much of an issue, keeping Soroka as the favorite to land this spot.

Ian Anderson

We have all seen what Anderson can do come playoff time. But the lack of ability to go deep into games on a consistent basis was seen in 2022.

In the playoff runs of 2020 and 2021, Anderson only went six or more innings once in his eight starts. Of course, you have to take into account that the Braves had one of the best bullpens in baseball both years.

But when it came to the regular season last year, Anderson struggled with consistency, which ultimately led to him being demoted to Triple-A.

Per ESPN News Services, Brian Snitker had this to say about the demotion.

“We need to get him right,” Snitker said. “He’s a big part of what we’ve got going on. Hopefully he can take a step back and reassess things and get himself going.”

Even after the demotion, Anderson struggled with consistency. He never finished through the sixth inning, and sans his first start in which he gave up two hits and no runs, Anderson struggled the rest of the way.

His strikeout numbers were decent over the four starts (23), but he also gave up 10 walks and 13 earned runs.

Despite all of the negatives, when Anderson is on, there’s a lot to like, according to Prospects Live:

His overall control on all three pitches is near above-average with the fastball primarily being a setup pitch for his two off-speed. Anderson cannot get away with missing on a fastball very often. Thus, with that being his primary offering, the need to spot it is a must. He does a very good job of accomplishing this, and with the mastery of his changeup, Anderson has a very good one two punch of pitches that he can reliably spot.

If Anderson can return to form, he definitely could be up for the fifth spot.

Bryce Elder

Elder is the wild card in this competition. He has to arsenal to be a quality big-league pitcher, and he showed as much last year in his final five starts of the year.

During this time, Elder was dominant, pitching 32.2 innings, striking out 26% of hitters, and had a 1.65 ERA and a 2.41 FIP. A large part of it was his filthy slider:

This is a straight up filthy lefty slider. Also of note, Bryce Elder throws right handed. https://t.co/ESGH6aEJry
— Josh Vardaman (@joshvardaman) September 27, 2022

What’s working against Elder is the fact that Soroka and Anderson are starting out ahead of him, so he has to make an impression to jump over both, or hope that both falter.

If it doesn’t happen, Elder will start out the year in Triple-A, but could force the Braves’ hand in the same way Strider did a year ago.

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