The Currently Wasted Rise of Braves Starter Grant Holmes

The Atlanta Braves got six strong innings out of Grant Holmes again. They needed a good outing after taxing the bullpen the day before to cover Spencer Schwellenbach's spot in the rotation. He delivered. The Braves' bats didn't return the favor, and they lost 2-1. Holmes took another tough loss.

"It's tough," Holmes said after the game on Sunday. "You go out there expecting to win, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. You know, it's baseball, man."

He's said that a few times already this season after a lot. He takes it on the chin and continues to do his job. Despite having a 3.04 ERA in his last 13 starts, the Braves are 3-10 (6-13 overall) when he's on the mound. In seven of his starts, he got one run of support or fewer. He can't do much more than pitch more shutouts, but even then, he's still not going to win some of those.

The 29-year-old righty has a fascinating rise to where he is in his career. The Dodgers took him 22nd overall in the 2014 draft. It was the same first round as Trea Turner, Matt Chapman, Kyle Schwarber and Aaron Nola among others. While those other names became known years ago, he only just arrived on the scene.

He spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues, got called up as a reliever, and it turned out that he made a good spot starter. For that reason, he got a shot at being in the rotation this season, and he ran with the opportunity.

Holmes went from never having racked up double-digit strikeouts in a game at any point in his professional career to having done it twice in the last 30 days.

The Braves should not have gotten this lucky with Holmes. The scenario of how he ended up in the Majors spells a handful of appearances that, at best, go OK. It shouldn't have been that they ended up with a new rotation mainstay. Yet, here they are. Instead of one of their top prospects, it was Grant Holmes.

It's a great story. It's a shame the Braves don't take advantage of it. It's an embodiment of what's gone wrong for them this season. Starting pitching gives the bats a big chance on a silver platter just for them to turn it down.

With all the injuries to the rotation, he's ended up being one of the best things that could happen to the team this season. A lone highlight in an ocean of problems. Perhaps the wins will start to come when he takes the mound. It might not be this season, but they'll come.

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