Braves 2020 Pitching Recap

Here are some notes about the Atlanta Braves pitching staff in 2020

OVERALL PITCHING: 

The Braves allowed 288 runs this season, 15th fewest in baseball and tied for seventh fewest in the National League...They had a 4.41 team ERA, which ranked 15th in the majors and seventh in the NL....Opponents batted .247 (494-for-2,000) against Braves pitching, which ranked 20th in the majors and ninth in the NL...Atlanta pitchers struck out 506, the 11th most in the NL, while walking 220, fourth most...The club allowed 69 home runs in 2020, ninth fewest in all of baseball.   

Across Major League Baseball, there were 4.65 runs scored per game, compared to a 4.83 average last season....The Braves allowed 4.80 runs per game in 2020 after allowing just 4.59 runs last season...Just ten teams in the majors allowed more runs per game in 2020 than in 2019, and five of them were in the NL East...The Marlins (+0.08), Braves (+0.21), Phillies (+0.28), Nationals (+0.55) and Mets (+0.58) each allowed more runs on average this season as compared to last. 

Atlanta pitchers walked 220 batters this season, eighth most in baseball... Their 3.78 walks per 9.0 innings were 0.38 more than last season...The Braves rotation walked 4.04 batters per 9.0 innings, third most in the majors, while the Atlanta bullpen walked just 3.53, ninth fewest. 

The Braves staff induced 682 ground balls on the year, seventh most in the majors and fifth most in the NL, while Atlanta’s 173 extra-base hits allowed were 13th fewest in baseball. • Just three Braves pitchers - Ian Anderson, Tucker Davidson and Patrick Weigel - made their major league debuts, and combined to appear in just eight games on the season (six by Anderson)...Three pitchers debuted last season as well, after ten Atlanta pitchers debuted in 2018.  

 Atlanta had 33 starts of 4.0 innings or less in just 60 games this season, the most such starts in the National League and second most in the majors...Only Boston, with 34 such starts, had more. • Seventeen of those Braves starts were 3.0 innings or shorter, also the most in the National League...Only the Tigers (21) and Red Sox (18) had more. 

The Braves went 15-18 (.455) when their starter went no more than 4.0 innings. • Over 162 games last season, Atlanta had just 25 starts of 4.0 innings or less. NOT SHORT STARTS: In 23 games in which the starter went at least 5.0 innings, the Braves were 19-4 (.826). • Braves started compiled a 2.01 ERA (30 ER/133.2 IP) in starts of at least 5.0 innings. • In 14 games getting at least 6.0 innings from the starter, Atlanta was 12-2 (.857). 

The Braves won their only start in which the starter went 7.0 innings. 

NO HOMERS: The Braves pitching staff held the opponent without a home run 28 times, and went 21-7 (.750) in those games. • Atlanta’s 21 wins in such games were most in the majors, as were its 28 total games without allowing a homer  

For more Atlanta Braves coverage, listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on SportsRadio 93.1 FM WXKO TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter @billshanks and email him at TheBillShanksShow@yahoo.com.