Why does Atlanta have so many left-handers in their bullpen?

Is it a deliberate decision to stock up on lefty arms, or is it mere coincidence?

The Atlanta Braves have been one of the most active teams this winter, signing three relievers to long-term contracts and making multiple trades. 

One of the major objectives Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos appeared to have was revamping his bullpen, seemingly with a focus on velocity. 

In 2023, the hardest pitch thrown by a Braves arm was a 100.7 mph fastball thrown by Spencer Strider to Nick Castellanos in game four of the NLDS. 

Strider owned the highest average four-seam velocity amongst full-time regulars on the team at 97.2 (good for 20th amongst all pitchers in MLB).

But only three Braves pitchers averaged over 96 mph on their fastballs, and the other two weren't full-time members of the roster in 2023 - call-up Daysbel Hernández averaged 96.0 mph in his 45 fastballs thrown and midseason acquisition Taylor Hearn averaged 96.3 mph on his fastball, but threw only 21 pitches for Atlanta at the major league level. 

Most of the Braves free agent signings - returners Joe Jimenez (95.3) & Pierce Johnson (95.8), along with newcomer Reynaldo López (98.0) - are all close or over to that 96 mph mark, all exceeding 95 on their fastballs. 

And of the trade acquisitions, former White Sox lefty Aaron Bummer is close to 95 mph, at 94.7, while former Padres lefty Ray Kerr averaged 96 mph last season. 

(Meanwhile, many of the pitchers that have departed, either via trades or in free agency, come in below that 95 mph mark: starter Kolby Allard (90.5), reliever Collin McHugh (91.3), started Jared Shuster (91.4), reliever Brad Hand (92.4), starter Yonny Chirinos (93.1), starter Michael Soroka (93.2), and reliever Kirby Yates (93.6) all missed it by somewhere between two and four mph.)

But a quick glance at a depth chart will reveal one other thing interesting about this Braves bullpen, as currently constructed: there's a lot of left-handers in there. 

Atlanta projects, per Fangraphs, to have four of their eight bullpen regulars be lefthanders, with another two on either the injured list (Angel Perdomo) or the minors (Ray Kerr). The grouping of AJ Minter, Tyler Matzek, Aaron Bummer, and Dylan Lee project to give Atlanta plenty of options from the left side.  

Why all the lefties? 

Your biggest rival's lefties are susceptible to lefty pitching

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

It's entirely possible that Alex Anthopoulos took away from the postseason that he needs to give manager Brian Snitker more left-handed relief options against teams like the Phillies. 

Philadelphia, who batted .256/.327/.438 as a team, did okay as a group against lefties. 

But their left-handed hitters didn't, with Philadelphia lefties batting .235/.330/.408 against same-side pitching. 

The weakness in this theory is that the biggest problem in the Phillies lineup, lefty Bryce Harper, absolutely crushed lefties last season: .289/.374/.510. It's a smaller sample size of only 149 at-bats, though, and for his career he's a .264 hitter against lefties - which feels like a lot, but he's a career .288 against righties, so y'know, incremental steps. 

Upcoming contractual issues could be at play here, too

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta's going to be facing the free agencies of several lefties after the 2024 season. 

AJ Minter, who is entering his final year of arbitration and projected to receive $6.5M (per MLB Trade Rumors), can walk after the season. Minter is a reliable set-up man that filled in at closer when Raisel Iglesias opened the season on the injured list and has been one of Snitker's go-to relievers out of the pen. 

Minter's 187 innings over the last three seasons is top 25 in MLB for all pitchers who started less than five games across that span. Only one member of the Braves, Raisel Iglesias (who led the American League with 59 games finished in 2021 as a member of the Angels) is above Minter on that list, at 187.2 innings. 

Adding to the potential high-leverage departures is Tyler Matzek, who will complete the second year of a $3.1M deal he signed prior to the 2023 season (although the Braves do hold a $5.5M club option for 2025, his age 34 season). 

Injuries in the bullpen last season, specifically to bulk lefties Dylan Lee and Lucas Luetge, prompted Atlanta to trade for Colorado's Brad Hand at the trade deadline, but he put up a 7.50 ERA in 18 Atlanta innings down the stretch and pitched only one inning in the postseason (with a home run and a walk). 

The lack of reliable lefty bullpen depth came up in some questionable reliever decisions throughout the season and postseason, so it's something that hopefully is corrected not only for 2024 but going forward. 

Trade acquisition Aaron Bummer is under team control through 2026, including his two club options. Angel Perdomo and Penn Murfee both have five years of team control remaining, with Ray Kerr having six. And if Atlanta doesn't feel that their existing lefties are ready to step into Minter's role for 2025, as we mentioned above, Matzek has a $5.5M club option for his age 34 season that can be exercised. 

It's also Matzek insurance

Let's face it, we love Tyler Matzek. 

He's legendary in Atlanta, and not only for his escape of Luke Jackson's two-in-scoring position jam in the seventh inning of game six of the 2021 NLCS (although that's a huge part.)

But Matzek also had Tommy John surgery last October, as well as dealt with a bulging disk in his back that slowed the rehab early last season. 

Having other lefty options like Bummer and Lee in the fold gives Atlanta the runway to work Matzek back into higher leverage opportunities, ensuring he's ready to go physically before putting him back into critical situations.  

So, is it intentional or just a coincidence? 

It's hard to argue that it's anything but intentional at this point. Alex Anthopoulos made a point at the Winter Meetings to clarify that they didn't target just any lefty reliever, they targeted Aaron Bummer specifically. That tells me that not only did Atlanta want more left-handed options out of their bullpen, they wanted something that he specifically had (with that something specific being a 99th percentile barrel rate allowed of only 2.7%, thanks to an elite 60.1% groundball rate). 

But the extra depth for multiple seasons going forward is certainly nice to have. 

What the Atlanta Braves are getting in lefty reliever Ray Kerr

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What the Atlanta Braves are getting in lefty reliever Ray Kerr

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