Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton has hit the injured list, which means his availability for the NLDS, even with a Wild Card bye, is unlikely.
Morton hits the 15-day list with finger inflammation, as reported by Justin Toscano.
He has the team's third-best WHIP among starting pitchers, and though he might not have been used until their opponent forced a longer-than-three-game series, his loss thins a rotation that has created some of the Braves only question marks so far this season.
It begs the question... Who will have to step up and start in place of Morton in the NLDS with his spot in the rotation now a lingering question mark?
Here are three players that could see starts at some point in place of Morton.
Pierce Johnson
One thing the Braves should consider this postseason, NLDS and beyond, is employing an opener to start certain games. With a heightened intensity in the postseason, an opener can help a manager game-plan strategically, and manage the bullpen budget with a bit more reliability. It really gives the chance to script the first inning.
It doesn't always work, but when it does, it can be a great tone-setter for a game. It's also a fantastic way for teams with weak or thin rotations to shore up their defensive strategy to mask any deficiencies. The Braves' biggest question marks have been with their starting pitching, and now with the rotation thin, that'll be a more prominent issue to solve.
Pierce Johnson could be used as an opener, surely. The Braves acquired Johnson from the Rockies in a trade in late July, and getting out of the thin Denver air has proven to be exactly what he needed. In 39.0 innings in Denver, Johnson had a 1.846 WHIP and 6.00 ERA. With Atlanta, in 21.2 innings, his WHIP is below 1.0 and his ERA at 0.83.
Johnson is heating up, only allowing one earned run across his last 10 appearances, and two across his last 20. He's allowed two runs total since joining Atlanta.
If the playoffs started today, Atlanta would be matched against the winner of the Diamondbacks vs Phillies. Both lineups have one lefty in their standard top-three, a perfect matchup for the right-handed Johnson.
Therein lies the one problem: Johnson isn't great against lefties, and there will be at least one in both team's lineups that the Braves are likely to face. Career-long, Johnson has allowed a .542 slug to lefties compared to a .380 slug against right-handed batters. But if the Braves can script his pitches and approach against the lefties, maybe it can work.
A.J. Minter
I like A.J. Minter as a possible opener for the inverse reason of Johnson: He's a lefty, and could be a solid matchup against the two righties in the top third of the lineups the Braves are most likely to face in the divisional round.
Here's how Minter's splits look against righties vs lefties:
As you'd expect, he's far better against right-handed batters than he is against lefties, but his 27.3% strikeout rate against lefties is still the third-best on the Braves. If he's used in an opening capacity where his only job is to get those first three outs, preferably by striking batters out, then this could be a tenable solution.
Minter started Game 5 of the NLCS in 2020, going three innings for the Braves. He tallied seven strikeouts giving up just a hit and no earned runs on the appearance. The Braves went on to lose, but Minter gave them the opportunity they needed to close out with a W.
Manager Brian Snitker -- still the skipper in the A -- had this to say of his start then: ""To tell you the truth, we got an inning more or an inning and a half more than I thought we'd get out of him."
He has proven he can play up to the moment.
Kyle Wright
Kyle Wright is back, and his return to the team is perfect timing. He rejoined the team after an injury in mid-September, and has made two starts, one for three innings and one for four innings. While it's still too early to say if he's back in a groove, his first start wasn't very good with six earned runs, but his second was slightly better with four earned runs across more innings.
In the second start he struck out five, but unfortunately walked four.
Wright may not be ready just yet, but he's got a few games left to get himself going. With Morton out, Wright may not have much of a chance, if the Braves need him to go in the postseason, he'll have to give it a go.
Wright's role entirely is in flux, as he is being shifted to the bullpen for Sunday's game. If he finds success there as a relief pitcher, he, too, could be used as an "opener" of sorts. In fact, if he finds himself a member of the pen rather than the starting rotation during the postseason, he figures to be the most likely opener just because of his long-standing experience with starting games. The moment would not feel too big for him.
