2) A.J. Minter
A.J. Minter did scare us on Saturday, but trust from his manager to get the final out of the inning after he loaded the bases with walks left his ERA unscathed. Minter now owns a 1.93 ERA with 5 hits allowed in 9.1 innings of work. A 1.74 FIP to suggest he is actually better than the results he has posted, a few too many ball fours is all we can truly complain about. He has 12 strikeouts and appears to be the long-awaited high-leverage lefty we’ve craved to have in front of Edwin Diaz for years.
The lone blip on his season came on April 2 when he allowed both of his runs on the season to the Miami Marlins. He hasn’t had a game with more than one hit allowed since and until Saturday’s inability to find the strike zone, Minter hadn’t walked anyone since the second game of the season.
Minter came from the Braves with some questions this offseason. Pitching in only 34.1 innings and questionable for Opening Day from his hip surgery, all seems to be going well for the one free agent reliever Stearns was willing to pay a high price on.
While the Braves struggle to get out of their own way (and stay off of social media), Minter is turning out just fine in Queens.
