Chirinos to start in Braves debut on Friday

A new pitcher will make his Braves debut on Friday.

While RHP Yonny “Yonito” Chirinos can bring flexibility to a team with injuries throughout the rotation and bullpen, the Braves are going to him first as a starter.

After the Braves claimed Chirinos off waivers on Sunday, he is scheduled to start in Friday’s opener versus the Brewers in Atlanta in his first outing as a Brave. This will be Chirinos’ fifth start this season and his 16th appearance. He is 4-4 with a 4.02 ERA and features a three-pitch arsenal.

With a sinker that moves in on the hands of righties, a slider that moves down and away from righties, and a changeup that has strictly downward movement, Chirinos has enough in his arsenal to keep batters guessing. Lefties hit .228 with four homers off him, while righties actually hit him better with a .264 average and six homers off him.

His sinker sits in the low to mid-90s, around 92 MPH, and he throws it 49% of the time. His slider, which he throws 31% of the time, only slightly dips down to 89 MPH. Lastly, his changeup registers around 85 MPH, and he throws it only 20% of the time. The slight velo dip and big difference in break between the sinker and slider makes him a solid strikeout guy, but his K/9 ratio and BB/9 are both not at his typical pace.

This season, he has 1.55 K/BB and 4.45 K/9, both career lows. Meanwhile, his 2.87 BB/9 is well above his 2.31 career average. Those will be things he will need to improve on, but the 29-year- old has the size and stuff to orchestrate a turnaround under Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz.

He produced most as a starter in 2019, making 18 starts – 10 of them quality starts – with a 3.85 ERA.

He is starting out his career in Atlanta facing the Brewers, who rank 25th in the MLB in runs scored (423) and tied with the Mariners and Tigers for 26th in batting average (.232). Chirinos will share a clubhouse with former Rays teammate Charlie Morton and face former teammate in Tampa Bay and current Brewers shortstop Willy Adames.

So, Chirinos jumped from one contender to another and will now have the task of helping a struggling Braves pitching staff that has allowed 62 runs in their last 10 games while going 3-7.

While awaiting the returns of Max Fried, Kyle Wright, AJ Minter, Jesse Chavez, and Nick Anderson, the Braves will have the benefit of a guy who has pitched in a variety of roles, but he’ll start with the first pitch of the game against the Brewers, wearing red on Friday night.

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