New starter Albers is a pleasant surprise

The Gwinnett Braves arguably have the hottest pitcher in the International League.

No, not Sean Newcomb, the recently promoted power lefty. Not prospects Lucas Sims or Patrick Weigel either, two arms popular among fans. Lost in the youthful renaissance is Andrew Albers, in his fifth organization in as many seasons.

Albers, a 31-year-old journeyman who seemingly is simply an innings-eating placeholder for the G-Braves, is statistically their best pitcher right now.

Albers (5-1, 2.75 ERA) pitched 61/3 scoreless innings Wednesday to guide Gwinnett to a 6-0 win. The start was unexpected: Albers was thrust onto the mound upon Sean Newcomb’s promotion to the majors.

“It’s one of those things where you always expect to pitch,” Albers said. “Obviously it was short notice, and you have to do some shuffling around and things like that, but at the same time, I was fresh coming into (Wednesday). I found out yesterday that I was going to be starting.”

A classic reclamation project, the left-hander owns a 1.47 ERA over his past three starts, including a 12⅔ scoreless-innings streak. In 38 innings as a starter, Albers has allowed 11 earned runs and possesses a 42-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

He hasn’t been asked to pitch deeply into games because the G-Braves rely on Albers’ full availability in the rotation and bullpen. He admitted it’s tricky to develop a routine with the uncertainty but added his job is the same either way: put the team in position to win.

“Albers has been outstanding for us all season,” Gwinnett manager Damon Berryhill said. “Only question about it is if he’s coming out of the bullpen or in the rotation. He’s just been consistently throwing strikes and done everything we’ve asked him to do and done it well.

“It’s a plus to have a guy with his experience. Not just his experience, but the way he’s pitching ... he’s been giving us wins.”

Berryhill commended Albers as a positive clubhouse influence. Albers presents a veteran option if the major league team, as expected, remakes its pitching units by August.

The recent run isn’t Albers’ first taste of success. He broke into the majors with Minnesota as a 27-year-old rookie in 2013 after posting a 2.86 ERA in Triple-A and leading the International League in strikeouts (116). Albers threw a complete game shutout in his second career start, but his performance went into a steep decline from there. He finished the season with a 4.05 ERA in 60 innings.

He’s thrown just 19⅔ major league innings since.

The Twins released Albers in 2014. He joined the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization the following season. He later caught on with the Toronto Blue Jays organization and the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Minnesota brought him back on a minor league deal in April 2016, and he pitched 17 major league innings (two starts) before returning to the free-agent market in October.

The Braves swooped in two months later. Albers said he signed because he saw an opportunity if he performs well. And he’s already exceeded any expectations.