Kyle Wright must learn how to pitch

Braves pitcher Kyle Wright needs to step forward - and now

Braves right-hander Kyle Wright showed Friday night in Miami why pitching can be the most frustrating part of any sport to watch.

Wright is a big kid, 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, who can throw 95 miles per hour and visibly has “good stuff.” You can watch a pitcher and know if the stuff is there, but unfortunately, sometimes more is needed.

Young pitchers have to figure out how to pitch. This isn’t just about throwing the pitches with the stuff. It’s about trusting the pitches you have and knowing how to mix those pitches to outsmart the hitters.

Remember, at best, hitters are usually going to get out 70-percent of the time.

Pitching is about putting the ball over the plate, pitching to contact, and also allowing your fielders to do their jobs. It’s not about trying to hit the corners and to nitpick, as not everyone can be Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux.

If you watched Friday night’s Braves game, you might have been screaming at your television. Even Glavine, as the analyst on the telecast, was hoping Wright would stop trying to be like he was on the mound. “Throw the fastball, Kyle” was something we were all saying.

Instead, Wright was throwing slider after slider, along with two-seam fastballs instead of four-seamers. Instead of being aggressive, challenging hitters with the stuff he has, Wright was trying to be too fine, and it cost him.

Wright gave up three runs on two hits in three innings of work. The problem was walks. He had six of them, and the last one was against the first batter of the fourth inning, and manager Brian Snitker had simply seen enough.

Six walks. That gives Wright 16 walks in 15 innings this season. Yep, that’ll make anyone scream at the television.

No wonder Wright’s earned run average is 7.20 in his four starts.

This is the last thing the Braves need right now. They have a three-man rotation, instead of a five-man staff, and Wright is the number three starter only because the Braves don’t have anyone else at the moment.

Wright and Touki Toussaint, who is also trying to figure things out, should both be fifth starters. Pitchers trying to find their way usually round out the rotation. They can be skipped once in a while, and if the other four, more established starters are doing well, then a team can afford to be patient with a young pitcher as the fifth guy.

The Braves just don’t have a number two or number three starter. They have lost an entire rotation, with Felix Hernandez opting out, Cole Hamels and Mike Soroka injured, and Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb being so bad as starters the Braves just don’t want them around anymore.

So, the Braves have little choice but to hope Wright figures things out. Sure, they will get someone in a trade to help eat innings, but regardless this is Wright’s chance to learn from what he’s doing wrong and get it corrected.

When Wright was in Double-A Mississippi, the pitching coach there was trying to get Wright to be more aggressive. He pitched 109.1 innings that season in the Southern League and did not hit one batter. When hitters know you’re not coming inside on them, they’ll wait for their pitch on the outer part of the plate.

Wright is just not aggressive in his approach. If his fastball topped out at 90 mph, then sure he would need to try to use the corners. Wright has a mid-90s fastball, and there is no need for him to be a sinker-slider pitcher.

Patience is always required for young pitchers, but Wright turns 25 years old in six weeks. He was the fifth pick in the draft three years ago out of Vanderbilt, a great baseball program that has produced great MLB pitchers. There’s no reason Wright should still be struggling or being yanked out of a game after walking six batters in four innings.

Wright better figure things out, or else he’ll join Foltynewicz and Newcomb at the other camp for pitchers who couldn’t. There are prospects behind Wright, like Tucker Davidson and Ian Anderson, who might send Wright to the back of the line if he can’t learn to pitch past the third inning.