"2024 had a lot of struggle bug-esque moments for the Braves, but one of the big ones was their inability to do... much of anything against Nationals starter Jake Irvin. The Braves and Irvin faced off four times, and while the Braves came away with two victories, the part where they hit against Irvin wasn't very fun. He dominated them in May (Braves won 2-0 late), had an okay start that the Braves lost in June, had a legitimately bad outing in August, and then beat up on the Braves again in September."
"But, so far in 2025, Irvin's career has tottered substantially backwards. His line sits at 134/134/118, which is negative fWAR territory. Substantially worse fastball command has basically ruined him - Irvin's 2024 was fueled by a highly repeated hammering of his four-seamer to the same up-in-the-zone area; he's been a more generic "my four-seamer is a get-me-over" guy without precision this year, and that lack of consistency has led to him getting hammered instead."
"On the flip side, the Braves will be giving the ball to their 18th different starter of the season: Jose Suarez. Acquired way back at the tail end of Spring Training in exchange for Ian Anderson (who is back with the Braves), Suarez made three horrible relief appearances for Atlanta (57/156/151) and was then sent to the Gwinnett salt mines for his trouble. He made 11 starts for the Stripers and missed months with an injury in the summer, and at least you can say that his performance there was pretty good, given his mid-3.00s ERA estimators."
The Braves struggled against Jake Irvin in 2024 across four meetings, with Irvin dominating in May and again in September despite two Braves wins. Irvin posted a 107/108/99 line in 2024 that, aside from an elevated HR/FB, suggested development into a more useful major-leaguer. In 2025 Irvin regressed sharply, with a 134/134/118 line and negative fWAR driven by deteriorated fastball command and loss of high-zone precision. The Braves will hand the ball to Jose Suarez as their 18th starter; Suarez struggled in three major-league relief appearances (57/156/151) but produced solid mid-3.00s Triple-A starts while missing time with injury.
Read at Battery Power
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