Overall, the New York Mets have played a competitive series so far against the Atlanta Braves, but their starting pitchers have still not been able to go past five innings. That continued Tuesday when Adrian Houser only went five innings in his second start with the club, with the Braves scoring runs in three of the first four innings.
The Braves’ top three were a thorn in Houser’s side. Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, and Austin Riley combined to go 6-for-10 with five runs scored, four RBIs, and three stolen bases (all by Acuña Jr.).
While this rotation’s inability to go deep into games is an issue, another trend has emerged in the first week and a half. That trend is the number of stolen bases the pitching staff has allowed. With the three steals by Acuña Jr., the team has allowed 21 stolen bases, which is by far the most in baseball.
Regarding Houser, he is a pitcher who has improved his ability to control the run game in recent years. Over the last two years, the right-hander allowed 11 stolen bases in 45 total appearances. That is a stark contrast to 2021, when he won ten games but allowed 19 stolen bases in 28 appearances.
Photo by Jordan Godfree-USA TODAY Sports
The problem with allowing those steals is they have a tendency to lead to free runs just as much as the walks do. In the first, Acuña Jr. was hit by a pitch and ended up getting to third on a stolen base and an error (scored on an Ozzie Albies double). Three innings later, a walk to Acuña Jr. led to two more stolen bases and him scoring on an RBI single from Riley.
This Mets pitching staff has avoided giving up the long ball in the first 11 games, as their seven home runs allowed are the third-fewest in baseball. That being said, the team has the eighth-most walks (42), tied for third in hit-by-pitches (8), and fourth in wild pitches (7). The point is they are allowing teams to find ways to score runs in different methods besides the long ball.
On Tuesday, Houser got the groundouts he needed (7), but most of them were finding a hole. It also did not help that according to Baseball Savant, his velocity was down on his sinker (averaged 91 miles-per-hour) compared to his usual average (92.1). The Braves saw the ball well, as they did not whiff on one sinker out of the 25 they saw. Now, Atlanta is one of the best lineups in all of baseball, but that is still an issue.
It remains to be seen whether the coaching staff has to work on improving certain pitchers’ pickoff moves or work on Francisco Álvarez’s throws to first to try to surprise runners. The point is that if this problem is not fixed, the Mets can see more leads spiral because they give teams more opportunities to hit with runners in scoring positions.
