<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Jm5sFrmep_6NXVVn5NbY6BkCk6k=/0x0:4878x3252/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73473058/2161074882.0.jpg">
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
The Braves hope that their rookie starter can continue his recent success against Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals in the final game of the series. The Braves hope that their rookie starter can continue his recent success against Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals in the final game of the series.
Spencer Schwellenbach has been pretty impressive 44.2 innings into his rookie season, with a 3.87 xFIP and 3.44 FIP. He has clearly been developing pitches and learning things as he goes after a rough couple of initial starts, but his overall sample so far is impressive. It is especially impressive, given how little experience he has pitching, being used primarily as a shortstop and sparingly as a reliever in college, before getting Tommy John to start his pro career and pitching incomplete 2023 and 2024 seasons in the minors leading up to his promotion. His success has been through avoiding barrels and walks, along with a sky-high chase rate. His strikeout rate is a bit sub-par so far, but it had been trending up until his most recent outing of 7.0 innings of 1 run ball with only 3 strikeouts. He has six legitimate pitches and his highest usage pitch (four-seamer) is one that he only uses 23% of the time. Six pitches with a fairly even mix and respectable profiles must be difficult for pitchers to stay on top of, especially with Schwellenbach’s good extension.
Miles Mikolas is the starter for St. Louis and he’s a fairly boring pitcher. The 35 year old veteran has been a fairly reliable innings-eater since he really broke through in 2018. He’s largely been a back-of-the-rotation type guy, with a couple seasons of slightly better production. At age 35, he is still that back rotation type. He is a true contact pitcher, with an impressively low strikeout rate in the year 2024, but also walking consistently less than 2 batters per 9 innings over his career. He primarily throws his low-90s four-seamer and sinker about 25% of the time each, with a slider as his primary breaking ball and the occasional curveball and changeup. Mikolas is not a disastrous starter, but is someone that the Braves offense should find some success against.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 21, 1:35 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan (La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM available for Game One only)
<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Jm5sFrmep_6NXVVn5NbY6BkCk6k=/0x0:4878x3252/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73473058/2161074882.0.jpg">
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
The Braves hope that their rookie starter can continue his recent success against Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals in the final game of the series. The Braves hope that their rookie starter can continue his recent success against Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals in the final game of the series.
Spencer Schwellenbach has been pretty impressive 44.2 innings into his rookie season, with a 3.87 xFIP and 3.44 FIP. He has clearly been developing pitches and learning things as he goes after a rough couple of initial starts, but his overall sample so far is impressive. It is especially impressive, given how little experience he has pitching, being used primarily as a shortstop and sparingly as a reliever in college, before getting Tommy John to start his pro career and pitching incomplete 2023 and 2024 seasons in the minors leading up to his promotion. His success has been through avoiding barrels and walks, along with a sky-high chase rate. His strikeout rate is a bit sub-par so far, but it had been trending up until his most recent outing of 7.0 innings of 1 run ball with only 3 strikeouts. He has six legitimate pitches and his highest usage pitch (four-seamer) is one that he only uses 23% of the time. Six pitches with a fairly even mix and respectable profiles must be difficult for pitchers to stay on top of, especially with Schwellenbach’s good extension.
Miles Mikolas is the starter for St. Louis and he’s a fairly boring pitcher. The 35 year old veteran has been a fairly reliable innings-eater since he really broke through in 2018. He’s largely been a back-of-the-rotation type guy, with a couple seasons of slightly better production. At age 35, he is still that back rotation type. He is a true contact pitcher, with an impressively low strikeout rate in the year 2024, but also walking consistently less than 2 batters per 9 innings over his career. He primarily throws his low-90s four-seamer and sinker about 25% of the time each, with a slider as his primary breaking ball and the occasional curveball and changeup. Mikolas is not a disastrous starter, but is someone that the Braves offense should find some success against.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 21, 1:35 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan (La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM available for Game One only)
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