Braves Spencer Schwellenbach Building Early All-Star, Cy Young Resume

The Atlanta Braves sophomore starter has done more than carry his weight in the early games of the season

Schwellenbach is providing the Braves will an unreal start to the season | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It’s never too early to start the conversation, especially with how the Atlanta Braves starter has dominated out of the gate. Spencer Schwellenbach has only needed two starts to put himself on the All-Star and Cy Young watchlist. 

Heading into the season, the talk was if he could follow up his strong, surprise rookie season. He's far exceeded that early on.

With the tough start the Braves have had, he's providing a major bright spot.

He’s on a 14-inning scoreless streak to open the season. He’s one of two qualifying pitchers to remain scoreless (Antonio Senzatela). Those 14 innings are also the fifth most in MLB and the second among starters who have only made two starts. He also leads MLB in WHIP (0.29) and opponent’s average (.068) among qualified pitchers. 

Schwellenbach has the lone win for the Braves this season and pitched well enough in his first start of the season to warrant a second. Wins don’t matter like they used to, but to his credit, he’s pitched well enough to get a win when no one else on the team has. Take that as you will. 

The competition he’s been up against hasn’t been too bad, either. He pitched six scoreless innings against a San Diego Padres team that started off to an 8-2 start and is top 10 in OPS and runs scored. 

The Marlins aren’t the same level of competition. However, if you can’t shut down the easier opponents, you can forget All-Star and Cy Young chatter. 

His early all-star case matters more than it normally does. The Braves host the All-Star Game this summer, and he is looking like the only worthy rep so far. Sure, every team gets one, but it would be terrible for the team to 1) have a single rep when they host and 2) have that single rep be in by default.

If Schwellenbach is looking like the sole All-Star candidate, at least he looks like it out of the gate. 

The All-Star Game is halfway through the season, so it’s reasonable to start looking at potential candidates about 10 games in. Serious Cy Young Award talk is a long way off.

That being said, with how his season is starting, it’s worth penciling him onto the watchlist early. Feel free to circle back to this topic a little later into the season. If he keeps it up, you know where the conversation began. 

Schwellenbach’s next start will be the season finale against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. He gets another tough lineup early on that he has a chance to add to his resume.