A new trend could be emerging in Major League Baseball. Well, in a way, it’s actually pretty old school, but it’s more new to use.
The Tampa Bay Rays are the most recent team to demonstrate this trend when they sent out Freddy Peralta in Game 4 to pitch out of the bullpen. Wait. Isn’t he a starter? Yes, and he wasn’t following an opener.
Nick Martinez was a normal starter, and then Peralta came in to pitch the last two outs of the sixth inning.
Maybe it’s not so crazy for the postseason. After all, Chris Sale notably closed out Game 3 of the NLWCS against the Phillies for the Atlanta Braves. It was electric and fitting for the mindset of the moment.
However, even for the postseason, it’s peculiar. Peralta didn’t pitch an elimination game. They simply just didn’t have him throw a bullpen between starts and instead used him in a game instead.
The Braves have seen this strategy used against them in the regular season, too. The Miami Marlins called up Sandy Alcantara to pitch in relief against them in the final game of the regular season to pick up the save. It was his third relief outing of the season.
It’s been tested by multiple teams. It’s a trend that maybe we should be more on the lookout for. If you’re the Braves, maybe it could be worth trying.
Bringing In the New With the Old
So, as said at the beginning, this is new to us, but it’s not a new concept. In 1934, for a notable example, Dizzy Dean won 30 games by making 33 starts and an additional 17 appearances out of the bullpen. The following year, he pitched in 50 games again, but made 36 starts.
For a Braves example, Warren Spahn made 79 career relief appearances along with his 635 starts for the Boston/Milwaukee Braves.
Now, of course, we won’t see this again. Dean was throwing nearly 30 complete games per season and clocking more than 300 innings. But could this be a chance to maximize pitchers as workloads decrease?
It seems counterintuitive, but if a pitcher is throwing between starts anyway, they might as well come in for an inning of work. The Braves relied on a good number of arms who were good for about five innings. That puts pressure on the bullpen, and they juggled that all year.
They had plenty of nights where a portion of their relievers weren’t available. Each team is only restricted to 13 pitchers on a roster. This could be a solution.
Let’s use Grant Holmes as the test subject. He’s someone who can wear multiple hats.
In 2026, he pitched in 31 games and made 29 starts. That totaled 151 2/3 innings, the second-most innings thrown by a Braves pitcher.
Let’s say it became semi-common that he skipped a bullpen session and pitched in a game. We can even paint the scenarios as ones where he needs to come in and cover four outs. He gets the last out of one inning and then pitches the full following frame.
If he does this 10 times, this covers 13 1/3 more innings during the season. That’s pretty significant. That’s 13 other times when another arm can rest for a night. That’s one fewer time they might have to designate a pitcher for assignment to bring in a fresh arm.
Maybe this is something they could utilize Sale for when he’s on extended rest. He rests three days after a start. Then, he pitches an inning, followed by three more days of rest. He’s about a week between starts, with an inning tossed in between.
It was a point of contention during the postseason, but in the regular season with this strategy, it can work.
Even if he did that just five times all season, that’s five more games where the bullpen can catch its breath a little bit more. For the pitchers who would appear in more games, since they are removing a bullpen, it's not adding to their workload. It keeps it consistent.
Knowing how this team has operated over the last couple of seasons, this is a strategy that could work really well for the Braves.
They’d have to have conversations about who makes the most sense to use in these situations. Health should be a factor, and it shouldn’t be done between every single start. They need times when they get to work with a pitching coach on a mound outside of games.
However, even a handful of times using a single pitcher for it could go a long way for this team.
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