Many Braves fans have given up on Kyle Wright, but I’m not one of them. Wright is still an exceptional talent; there are very few pitchers in this minor league system who have his makeup. We’ve seen Wright show some flashes; he put up a fight at the backend of 2020 before a rough end to his season in the NLCS. Wright had a rough 2021 in Atlanta over two starts, only making it 6.1 innings. He has quietly been rebuilding his stock down in AAA.
Kyle Wright throws a stellar 7.0 IP. Wright struck out 10 batters and only allowed 2 hits on the night. The only run being a solo HR.
— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) September 9, 2021
Outside of one rocky start on September 2nd, Wright has been very consistent. Since getting rocked back on July 15th, Wright has made nine starts. In eight of those nine starts, Wright hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs. He has gone over seven innings four times, including one outing of scoreless ball over eight innings. Wright’s raw numbers still don’t pop off the page, but he had a great August:
Kyle Wright (August 2021, AAA): 3-0, 29.2 IP, 8 ER, 2 HR, 5 BB, 35 K, .226 BAA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.43 ERA
Wright’s biggest issues are still coming with runners in scoring position. In 2021, as a whole, Wright has allowed some disgusting numbers.
- RISP: 9.20 ERA
- Runners on 1st & 2nd: 14.14 ERA
- Runners on 1st & 3rd: 5.40 ERA
- Runners on 2nd & 3rd: 27.00 ERA
- Runner at 3rd: 17.18 ERA
Some of these sample sizes are smaller than others, but it’s clear that just because Wright had a good stretch in AAA, he’s not going to come back up to Atlanta next week and throw seven innings of shutout ball (if he wants to, please, feel free). I still have a lot of faith in Kyle Wright, and while I’m not saying he’s totally ready to come back up to Atlanta, I’m happy to see some progress being made. Now it’s up to him to keep up this consistent play.
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