The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CLOSER MELANCON SETTLING IN WITH HIS NEW TEAM
When relief pitcher Mark Melancon struck out the side in the ninth inning Monday, he continued his recent string of success as the Braves’ closer. It was his seventh scoreless outing in his past eight appearances and his eighth save in eight save chances since the Braves acquired him from the San Francisco Giants on July 31.
“I think the last two or three
months I’ve thrown well,” Melancon said Tuesday afternoon at SunTrust Park, several hours before the Braves played the Toronto Blue Jays. “But I think since I’ve been here, it’s been good, really good.”
Melancon was one of baseball’s best closers a few years ago, recording a National League-leading 51 saves for Pittsburgh in 2015 and 47 saves in a 2016 season split between the Pirates and Washington Nationals. After signing a four-year, $62 million free-agent contract with the Giants, a complicated forearm injury sidelined him for chunks of the 2017 season, required pronator muscle surgery in September 2017 and continued to bother him throughout 2018. He finally felt 100% healthy again this year.
Melancon wound up working mostly setup and middle relief roles with the Giants and was initially slotted for an eighth-inning role with the Braves. But the 34-year-old right-hander, a threetime National League All-Star, quickly emerged as their closer.
Asked if he thought during the past couple of years he would find his way back to a closer’s role at some point, Melancon said: “Yeah, I thought I would. It’s just one of those things that if somebody (else) is going well, why change it? And the way bullpens are these days, every role is extremely important. You have so many deep bullpens now that (teams) create these super bullpens. It’s a good thing.
“I love coming inin that(gameon-the-line) situation,” Melancon said, “but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the seventh, eighth, sixth. There’s a lot of opportunities for that situation.
But I like being in the ninth. I’ve always enjoyed it.”
He allowed four runs in
non-save onethird of an inning in a situation at Miami on Aug. 10, but otherwise has allowed just three runs in 12⅓ innings with the Braves (through Monday). He has held the opponent scoreless in 12 of his 15 appearances with the Braves.
Monday’s save was Melancon’s third in four days and the 191st
of his big league career.
Versatility at catcher: The Braves have started three veteran catchers in a span of three games – Brian McCann on Sunday, Francisco Cervelli on Monday
and Tyler Flowers on Tuesday. That’sareflection of the depth the Braves have at the position after the recent signing of Cervelli and the reinstatement of McCann from the injured list. “It’s kind of a rarity and an odd
ity that you have three potential everyday guys at some point on your club,” manager Brian Snitker said of the catching depth.
As for how the Braves will apportion starts among the catchers in the coming weeks: “I don’t think we’re going to get away from the two guys we’ve had all year (McCann and Flowers),” Snitker said, but he also wants Cervelli to play enough to stay sharp. “You feel really good about the fact you’ve got an extra guy to pinch hit, or if you have to pinch run for one of them, you’ve got an established guy you can put back there,” Snitker said.
The Braves pitchers are fans of the team’s catching depth.
“I was telling somebody this morning on the phone, if you could just pick one of those guys and put him on a team, any other team, you would be so pumped to have that catcher on your team,” Melancon said Tuesday. “It’s such a dynamic role that (catchers) play. It’s a personality role. It’s a physical role. It’s everything. To have any one of our guys is a huge plus on any team, and we have three.”