The Atlanta Braves will break away from their fraternity of starters as Alex Wood gets ready to take the mound Tuesday afternoon. The Braves will host the New York Mets in the first game of their double-header. What does Wood bring to the table?
So far, Wood has shown he has a good fastball that can touch up to the mid-90's and this will look to be his bread and butter. As the Braves' 2012 second-round pick, Wood breezed through the ranks, dominating minor league baseball. He started in Class A Rome in 2012, posting a 4-3 record with a 2.22 ERA in 13 starts. He pitched 52.2 innings, striking out 52 hitters.
He continued to tear up Double-A with the Mississippi Braves and his strikeout ratio didn't deter in 2013. Wood maintained his command and bettered his record and ERA while in Mississippi. Wood went 4-2 with a 1.26 ERA in 57 innings pitched, while striking out 57 batters.
In his six major league appearances, Wood has pitched 7.2 innings, while striking out nine batters. Nine strikeouts having faced 31 batters, that's close to a strikeout per three batters faced. This proves, though a small sample size, that Wood can not only get hitters out, but he can get them to swing and miss. Wood has a 3.52 ERA at the major league level and he will look to lower that in his first major league start of his career.
Wood, who is 22 years of age, will face off against a phenom, somebody he should take notes on, Matt Harvey of the Mets. Harvey is 24 years old and shutting down hitters at the major league level. Harvey is 5-1 with a 2.04 ERA. Though only surrendering one run to the St. Louis Cardinals in his last start, Harvey earned his first loss of the season.
Game time is at 1:10 p.m. ET. It will be the first of two debuts as Zack Wheeler of the Mets will make his first ever MLB start in the second game of the doubleheader.
