Banuelos dazzles in MLB debut opposite Scherzer as Braves drop Nationals
ATLANTA -- Manny Banuelos' day started by being named to the Triple-A All-Star Game. It ended with a matchup vs. the hottest pitcher on the planet for his major league debut.
Not a bad 24 hours for the Braves' left-hander, even if he did have to try and outduel the Nationals' Max Scherzer.
Banuelos met the hype that has followed him through four years and a change of organizations, striking out seven through 5 2/3 scoreless innings before leaving with cramps and dehydration a 2-1 Braves win that came via Cameron Maybin's walkoff single.
"He was pitching really, really good and he locked up with one of the best pitchers in the game," said manager Fredi Gonzalez. "He matched him pitch for pitch and it's just a shame that he had to come out of there with a cramp."
Bryce Harper was twice Banuelos' strikeout victim, with the second one maybe the most impressive of the night.
Leading the Washington right fielder 1-2 after curveball and an 86-mph slider, Banuelos threw a four-seam fastball that just missed the target. The rookie was obviously sold, spinning off the mound in his first show of emotion in the night before umpire Dan Iassogna called it a ball.
The 24-year-old followed with a changeup that hit in front of the plate for a full count before delivering a sweeping curveball that sailed high and outside that Harper swung through.
"Pitched pretty good. Pitched with a lot of confidence," Banuelos said. "I didn't feel nervous and when I started warming up, it felt pretty comfortable."
The 11th-ranked prospect in the organization per MLB.com's rankings (http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=atl), Banuelos was a part of the Braves' offseason overhaul that may have seen odd.
Why unload David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve, two established pieces of the bullpen, for a prospect who was not only a year removed from Tommy John surgery, but had struggled in his comeback?
Once rated the 12th-best farmhand in the game per Keith Law, Banuelos could be the pitching equivalent of buying Apple stock when the company was on the verge of going bust in 1997. That's a big if, but president of baseball operations John Hart and Co. were buying low on Banuelos, whose value had dissipated to the point where the Yankees were willing to part with him for a pair of relievers.
Granted, there may have been buyer's remorse from the Atlanta perspective with the bullpen's early struggles, but Thursday -- like 22-year-old Matt Wisler's performance Wednesday and Mike Foltynewicz's early outings -- was every bit the Braves' run of gobbling up former top prospects giving glimpses of how ridiculously pitching-rich the future maybe.
But we're clearly getting ahead of ourselves.
It was against a Washington lineup that was sans Ian Desmond, Anthony Rendon, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman. But following a second-inning leadoff single by Wilson Ramos, Banuelos retired 13 consecutive batters before he plunked Denard Span with two outs in the sixth inning.
That beaning seemed to get to him as Banuelos proceeded to hit the next batter, Danny Espinosa, before the pitcher called for catcher A.J. Pierzynski to come over and assistant athletic trainer Jim Lovell and manager Fredi Gonzalez followed.
Banuelos felt a cramp in his left calf muscle and his fingers on both hands, though it was more pronounced in his pitching hand (left). It's something that bothered him two weeks before in a start in Gwinnett.
"The 3-2 changeup, I felt the cramp and I hit (Span)," Banuelos said. "The second one, it felt the same and I couldn't control the ball after that."
The meeting ended with Banuelos walking off the field with Lovell to a loud ovation from the Turner Field crowd.
"We knew that he was a sweater," Gonzalez said. "The reports that we got from (Gwinnett manager Brian Snikter) and (pitching coach) Marty Reed said this guy sweats a lot. So we've got to make some adjustments, but he really pitched well.
"He commanded his fastball, did a nice job with his changeup and you can't ask for anything more than that."
His night concluded earlier than Banuelos' performance indicated as he allowed only two hits -- a leadoff single by Span on the third pitch of the game and Ramos' aforementioned base hit -- on 75 pitches with 48 strikes. But the lefty exited with the second-most Ks among Braves who threw five or more scoreless innings in their MLB debuts, trailing only David Hale, who struck out nine in five innings on Sept. 13, 2013 vs. the Padres.
He can also say he more than went toe-to-toe with Scherzer, the National League Cy Young Award front-runner who was just two starts removed from a no-hitter vs. the Pirates.
Having already thrown 88 1/3 innings this season -- with 88 2/3 of those coming with Triple-A Gwinnett -- and an expected 120-130 innings limit, Banuelos could well move to the bullpen after a couple starts once Perez returns following the All-Star Break.
But even in a 5 2/3-inning glimpse, Banuelos underscored the embarrassment of riches Atlanta could have with its young pitchers.
Added to the efforts of Foltynewicz, Perez and Wisler, the Braves are now 4-0 with a pitching making his first start -- not that debuts is something Gonzalez wants to keep making a habit of.
"I know we've got a lot of trades and a lot of depth but I don't think we're there having one every time out," Gonzalez joked. "But you see a little bit of the trades. You've seen Foltynewicz, you've seen Banuelos, you've seen Wisler. You see some of those guys that have come in trades and have made some nice starts."
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
