After a nice extra-innings win to start the weekend series on Saturday, the Braves hope to secure an early series win with Bryce Elder on the mound at Camden Yards. The Orioles will counter with the big 27-year-old righty Brandon Young.
Bryce had a good start to the season, but has had a rough time recently. That said, he was reportedly dealing with some fatigue and had a better start coming out of the All-Star break, so lets hope that was him getting back on track a bit. He still profiles as a back of the rotation starter on average, with season numbers basically in line with his career average, but the variance can be pretty wide with him from game to game. He’s been throwing his cutter and sinker a decent bit more in June and July, so that will be something interesting to keep an eye on as we hope for another good Bryce Elder night.
Brandon Young has less than a year of MLB service time, but is nearly 28. Through 28 starts and 149 innings, the 6’6 righty has a career 4.53 xFIP and 4.43 FIP, but his ERA is a nice 3.25 this year. His fastball is a tick below average velo and he shows average extension, but he has some nice induced vertical break on the pitch that makes it play well from a moderately high 43 degree arm angle. He mixes in a splitter, slider, sinker, and curve off of his four-seamer, but the four-seamer is by far the most impressive pitch of the bunch. As such, he only strikes out 7.31 batters per 9 innings, walking a solid 3.26. He isn’t an especially impressive pitcher, so if the Braves can avoid chasing his sub-par secondaries, they should be able to find some success.
Game Date/Time: Saturday, July 25, 7:05 p.m. ET
Location: Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Los Bravos
