Friday, April 04

SAN DIEGO -- Grant Holmes’ incredible journey through the 2024 season is a great example of the unpredictability of any baseball season. 

The right-hander began the year as a non-roster invitee who primarily logged garbage innings during Spring Training games. Some fans might have remembered Holmes as the guy the Dodgers took with the 22nd pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. But most fans probably just referred to him as the guy who looks like Kenny Powers from HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” or like Blake Henderson from Comedy Central’s “Workaholics.”

Once the middle of June arrived, Holmes became celebrated as the guy who had finally reached the Majors after 10 years in the Minors. A little more than three months later, he stood as one of the most significant reasons the injury-ravaged Braves earned a seventh straight trip to the playoffs.

“The story is phenomenal,” Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz said. “It just goes to show [that] if you believe in yourself and you just keep going, hopefully, a team will see the value that you have, that you’re going to bring to the table. Thank goodness, we were the team that gave him the opportunity.”

Holmes allowed a run in just one of his first eight big league relief appearances (17 innings), and he delivered seven strong innings as the Braves won the last of the four starts he made after Max Fried and Reynaldo López both hit the injured list after the All-Star break.

Remember how last year ended. Every win proved to be significant.

Speaking of how the season ended, this is when Holmes’ great story gets even better. Remember how the Braves needed to win just one game of the final-day doubleheader against the Mets? Spencer Schwellenbach’s great start in the first game was squandered by Joe Jiménez. Then the Braves battled back in the bottom of the eighth before Raisel Iglesias faltered in the ninth inning.

All the while, the Braves knew back discomfort was going to prevent Chris Sale from pitching the second game. But most of the players, including Holmes, didn’t know this. So you can imagine Holmes’ surprise when Kranitz approached him about 30 minutes before the first pitch and told him he was going to start.

“It was all hands on deck,” Kranitz said. “They all knew they were going to have to pitch. He was a perfect fit because he had started before. It wasn’t going to bother him.”

When you’ve spent 10 years in the Minors, you don’t sweat the small stuff like the fact Holmes had thrown 21 pitches over 1 2/3 scoreless innings against the Royals the previous afternoon. He gave the Braves exactly what they needed -- four scoreless innings in the season-ending playoff-clinching win over the Mets. 

All of these experiences should benefit Holmes as he begins this season in Atlanta’s rotation. He made his season debut in relief on Opening Day on Thursday in San Diego. He's scheduled to start Monday against the Dodgers. It will be the first time he has pitched at Dodger Stadium. That is something he never would have imagined 11 years ago, when he was the Dodgers’ heralded first-round pick.

“It’s nice coming in with some confidence,” Holmes said.

Holmes has the confidence of each of his teammates.

“You look at this guy’s journey and what he’s been through in his career and when he got his shot, I can only imagine that would be nerve-racking,” Sale said. “Then he’s in the bullpen and then he’s a starter and then back to the bullpen and then he gets a knock at the door 30 minutes before a start and he holds it down for us. So, I think, he’s as ready as anybody to take on that task and be a guy for us.”

How many Opening Day home runs did Hank Aaron hit?

A. 1

B. 2

C. 3

D. 4

After watching AJ Smith-Shawver record eight strikeouts over four innings against the Twins on March 15, I wrote on social media, “There's no reason he can't do what Schwellenbach did last year.” That was the night it became apparent Smith-Shawver was a far better option than Ian Anderson for a rotation spot.

Credit the Braves for not hanging on to Anderson simply because he was out of Minor League options. They gave Smith-Shawver, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Braves' No. 3 prospect, a rotation spot and traded Anderson to the Angels in exchange for long reliever José Suarez.

Suarez will be available to guard against short starts, like the ones Anderson seemed destined to encounter. The 2021 World Series hero walked 20 in 20 Spring Training innings.

There’s a chance Suarez’s Braves stint will be a short one. But instead of carrying someone who could tax their bullpen during the first week of the season, the Braves exchanged him for a pitcher who could safeguard against this potential development.

As for Smith-Shawver, I do think this will be a big year for him. We know he has a high-powered fastball. But the 22-year-old hurler is now confidently throwing his secondary stuff in any count. Like I said a couple weeks ago, there’s no reason he can’t match Schwellenbach’s 2024 success.

Spencer Strider was happy his second Spring Training start was more challenging than his first. 

He likely will begin a rehab stint with Triple-A Gwinnett. Given he was limited to 45 pitches on Sunday, he could make three starts before rejoining Atlanta’s rotation. If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make his season debut during the home series against the Twins (April 18-20). But that’s just a guess.

Answer: B. Aaron
Aaron hit one against the Cubs’ Bob Rush in the 1956 opener and then famously hit one off the Reds’ Jack Billingham in the first inning of the 1974 season opener. That second homer tied Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers.

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