Bryce Elder’s New Cutter Is Part of a Bigger Braves Trend
Atlanta’s pitchers are rapidly expanding their arsenals. Elder’s newest pitch might be the most important yet.
The day has finally come: Bryce Elder is adding a cutter.
On Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, the sinkerballer threw six cutters among his 78 pitches. Hyperbolic as it may sound, this one pitch could dramatically change his fortunes at the major league level.
It’s also part of a much larger shift in how the Braves are developing their pitchers.
Let’s talk about it.
Not technically the first time
Saturday’s cutters from Elder were not the very first cutters the righty has thrown in competition. Out of the 7,100 pitches he’s thrown at the MLB level in his career, exactly one was a cutter:
On July 30, 2024, against the Milwaukee Brewers, Elder threw an 0-1 cutter to get former Braves catcher William Contreras to ground out in the 6th inning of an eventual 5-1 Atlanta win.
It’s the last one he threw in a game until this weekend. But the 2024 version and these from the weekend share a lot of similarities.
