While the Georgia Braves have their sights on a wild card berth this season, this month we will look at how the team’s starting rotation will stack up next season.   

Starting Rotation

The Braves have four legitimate #1 starters in Russ Ortiz, Tim Hudson, Wade Miller, and Freddy Garcia.  Sidney Ponson, and Tim Wakefield round out the rotation to provide depth, or possibly trade bait.  Let’s take a look at their individual stats through July 15: 

Russ Ortiz had an excellent rookie season in 1999, but slipped considerably in 2000.  Ortiz has come on strong this season and seems ready to solidify the #1 spot in the rotation for the Giants.  It’s amazing that he has only allowed 5 hr in 120 innings so far this year.

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
10         5          3.30      19         19         0          120       107       44         5          56         91

Tim Hudson has some of the most devistating stuff in the AL, and his stats show it.  He’s only going to get better as he matures. 

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
10         5          3.15      20         20         2          137       112       48         11         44         113

Wade Miller was drafted by the Georgia Braves, along with Freddy Garcia out of the Houston Astros system 3 years ago.  Miller has taken a little longer to get to the majors, but is well worth the wait.  Miller is hurt a little by pitching in hitter friendly Enron field, but he can still overwhelm hitters.

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
11         4          4.18      19         19         1          127       118       59         21         46         104

Freddy Garcia has bounced back nicely after missing half a season last year due to a shoulder injury.   If he can stay healthy, he could contend for a Cy Young.

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
11          1           3.15      19         19         2          131       103       46         10         45         76

Sidney Ponson has tons of potential, although the jury is still out whether he will ever reach the scout’s predictions.  He is, however, having a solid season the O’s.

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
 5          5           4.17      15         15         2          90         98         42         15         24         63

Tim Wakefield’s knuckle ball has been dancing all over the strike zone this year, completely confusing the opposition.  While the Braves cannot count on him to have a solid season year after year, he will be a solid swing man in 2002.

W         L          ERA     G          GS        CG        IP          H          ER        HR        BB         SO
6          3          2.69      25         10         0          100       82         30         6          39         92 

If the Braves starting rotation finishes the season the way they started, they could very well pitch themselves to a pennant in Brassball 2002.  Next month we will take a look at the lineup and determine whether they will be able to score runs for the starters.