Review of the Atlanta Braves 2023 season: Minter wonderland
Despite Atlanta’s overwhelming success in recent years, the Braves pitching staff—starters and bullpen—has been seen as one of the biggest weaknesses. A.J. Minter has been one of the Braves relief core’s most utilized arms. Let’s examine his campaign in 2023.
Minter was coming off a season in which he appeared in 75 games, recorded 94 strikeouts in just 70 innings pitched, and had a 2.06 ERA. Many people believed that Minter struggled in 2023, but those assessments might have been influenced by his lofty goals.
A.J. Minter played in 70 games in the previous season. He pitched 64.2 innings in all, recording a 3.76 ERA in that time. Throughout his 64.2 innings pitched, he struck out 82 batters, maintaining his high strikeout rate. Minter was one of Atlanta’s most dependable relievers, despite the opinions of certain Braves supporters. Most people would assume that Minter would be a nightmare for left-handed hitters due to his high velocity fastball and distinctive left-handed delivery. In actuality, 2023 was the opposite.
Pitcher A.J. Minter was a textbook example of a reverse splitter; in fact, he outperformed left handed bats against right handed hitters. Left-handed hitters hit an astounding.288 while right-handed hitters only hit.210. Makes sense—Minter makes frequent use of his superior cutter.
Last season, Minter’s opponents batted.236 against him, and 31.5% of the batters he faced sat down on strikes. In order to get outs in the late stages of games, Brian Snitker will still turn to A.J. Minter despite the Atlanta Braves’ new look, particularly in the pitching department.
It will be interesting to watch how Brian Snitker chooses to use Minter in 2024 going forward. What effect will Minter’s 2023 reverse split have on when he is used? Or, regardless of the person manning the plate, will he be trusted in high-stakes situations?
