— If Williams Perez is among the many pitchers who are creatures of habit, he might want to convince himself and the Braves that it was not the hectic travel and sporadic preparations that led him to an efficient eight-inning gem during Wednesday night’s 5-1 win over the Phillies.
“That’s pretty incredible,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “They seem to do that throughout history, when you just don’t know what’s going to happen and you get called and you come to the big leagues, and next thing you know, you throw eight innings of one-run ball.”
After Triple-A Gwinnett’s game Tuesday night in Rochester, N.Y., Perez learned that he needed to fly to Atlanta to make the start Jhoulys Chacin had been scheduled to make before he was traded to the Angels on Wednesday afternoon.
Perez arrived at Turner Field around 3 p.m. ET, and a little more than six hours later, he was celebrating that he’d limited the Phillies to two hits and faced just one more than the minimum during his 85-pitch, eight-inning performance.
“I was a little tired, but I didn’t want that to affect me,” Perez said through an interpreter. “I wanted to keep a positive mentality and outlook going into it. I was able to execute, and I was pleased with that.”
So will it be best to have Perez fly in to wherever the Braves are playing when he makes any more starts over the remainder of this season?
“If that’s what it takes, put it on my tab,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I’ll get the Delta points. We’ll fly to Tallahassee or somewhere like that and then bring him back.”
While the travel element might have added to the splendor of this story, Perez’s performance was more of an indication of how much he has benefited from the mechanical changes he made since being sent to Gwinnett.
Before that, he had not lasted five innings in any of the first three starts he made for Atlanta this year.
Perez tossed a one-hit shutout for Gwinnett last week and built off the resulting confidence. He retired 10 straight batters after his bid for perfection was erased by Ryan Howard’s opposite-field homer to begin the fifth inning and then ended his night by negating Freddy Galvis’ eighthinning single with Darin Ruf’s double-play groundout.
“I spoke to the coaches, and they gave me a clear message of the things they wanted me to work on while I was down in Triple-A,” Perez said. “So I had something to focus on.”
Perez certainly strengthened his bid to remain in the rotation as he encountered just one three-ball count and needed three or fewer pitches to retire 12 of the 25 batters he faced. In other words, he didn’t look anything like he had when he exited both of his first two starts this season in the fifth inning having thrown at least 73 pitches.
“I know [pitching coach Roger McDowell] will reinforce that because he’s got good enough stuff, and by the way, there were some pitches that registered 93 or 94 [mph],” Gonzalez said. “He’s got that in his pocket. I hope this is one of those starts that helps him turn the corner. He’s a special guy.”
In other recent Braves news:
Braves trade Chacin to Angels for lefty prospect
— As the Braves progress through the remainder of this season, they’ll get a better feel for the potential future makeup of their starting rotation, which got a little younger on Wednesday, when Jhoulys Chacin was traded to the Angels for Minor League pitcher Adam McCreery.
Given that McCreey is 23 and has never pitched above the Rookie level during either of his two professional seasons, it will take some time to learn if the Braves took a successful gamble on this 6-foot8 left-hander, whose velocity has improved as he’s spent the past month at extended spring training.
But the deal was primarily made to give Atlanta a chance to fill a rotation spot with a pitcher who potentially has a long-term future with the club. Chacin had been scheduled to start Wednesday night’s game against the Phillies, but once the trade was completed, Williams Perez was officially recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to make the start.
“We’re trying to build around young players,” Braves general manager John Coppolella said. “This gets one more young starter up here for us. Every starter we have is age 25 or younger and is signed for the next five years.”
Perez certainly strengthened his bid to stay in the rotation during Wednesday nights’ 5-1 win over the Phillies. He allowed one run and faced just one more than the minimum over eight innings. If he extends this success, the Braves may need to wait a little longer to promote either Tyrell Jenkins or John Gant from Gwinnett. Lucas Sims has impressed this year, but he likely will not be deemed a legit candidate for Atlanta’s rotation until later this summer.
“There are a couple guys out there who are making noise,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We want to get younger. I can’t give you a specific schedule as to when those guys are going to be here. I’ve always been a big believer that they will let us know [when they’re ready].”
When the Braves entered this season, it was assumed that Bud Norris and Chacin would remain in the rotation for a couple months until some of the club’s prospects were deemed Major League-ready. Now that both of these veterans have been removed from the picture, Mike Foltynewicz, Aaron Blair and whoever ends up filling this recently created rotation void on a long-term basis will have a chance to give the club a better feel for how the rotation might look next year and beyond.
The five current members of Atlanta’s rotation — Julio Teheran (107), Matt Wisler (25), Perez (24), Foltynewicz (17) and Blair (3) — have combined to make 176 career starts. McCreery produced a 3.55 ERA, recorded 49 strikeouts and issued 33 walks over 38 innings at the Rookie level over the past two seasons. His fastball has been routinely clocked at 88-90 mph in the past, but a Braves scout recently saw him hit 93 mph during an extended spring training game.
“I’m not saying this guy is Randy Johnson or Andrew Miller, but they all took some time to get to where they got as big-bodied left-handers,” Coppolella said.