Closer Watch - Atlanta Braves
By: mbohn
Last season the Braves relied on one of baseball's all-time best closers,
Billy Wagner, to finish things up in the 9th. Wagner responded by posting 37 saves and seven wins against only two losses. He struck out 104 batters during his 69.1 innings of work, and only allowed 11 earned runs while posting an ERA of 1.43.
That type of production is hard to replace, and it looks like the Braves will rely on two 2nd year arms to attempt the task,
Jonny Venters and
Craig Kimbrel.
Lets start with Venters, who exploded onto the scene in Atlanta in 2010. Venters had a tremendous 1.95 ERA in his 83 innings on the mound, giving up only one homer and allowing 18 earned runs. His 1.204 WHIP reflected his lone weak spot, the 39 free passes he handed out. Still, the 100 runners he allowed on base we basically cancelled out by the 93 that he struck out. At 6'3", 195lbs Venters is a good sized lefty that will be an asset whether he is the closer or not in Atlanta.
If Venters exploded onto the scene, then Kimbrel was like simply nuclear. While only getting 20.2 innings worth of time on the hill, Kimbrel made the most of them. Dude struck out 40 batters, and only allowed a single earned run. He was also plagued a bit by walks, issuing 16 of them to go with the nine hits he allowed. With an ERA of 0.44 and a WHIP of 1.209, Kimbrel's Spring will have a lot to say about whether or not he starts the year as the go to man in the 9th for Freddie Gonzalez.
From where things look right now, Venters will probably be the main guy early, but working as a tandem with Kimbrel based on match-ups. If Kimbrel continues to throw at a 17.42 K/9 though, it will hard to imagine him not taking over the spot at some point. My advice would be to target both of these guys in your draft, as both will have tremendous value whether coming out for the 8th or the 9th.