Tyler Mahle's dominance with Braves raises more uncomfortable questions for SF Giants

The SF Giants are set to face the Atlanta Braves on Monday night to make up for a game that got rained out earlier this season. While the Giants won’t see Tyler Mahle on the mound, the fact that he has pitched so well for Atlanta raises some more serious questions about the team’s coaching staff and ability to develop pitchers.

San Francisco traded Mahle to the Braves in exchange for Anthony Molina, the pitcher who will take the ball for the Giants on Monday. Since joining Atlanta, Mahle has been excellent, posting a 1.48 ERA in five starts with 32 strikeouts and just five walks in 30 and 1/3 innings pitched. Compare that to his 5.13 ERA in 18 starts with the Giants and it is clear that something has changed. 

Just to add further insult to injury, keep in mind the fact that JP Martinez is the pitching coach in Atlanta. He was San Francisco’s pitching coach last year and was an assistant pitching coach for the Giants prior to that so he has seemingly been able to get more out of Mahle than Justin Meccage and Frank Anderson, the guys in charge of pitching for the Giants under manager Tony Vitello.

For some players maybe a change of scenery is just what they need to get back on track. Remember back in 2014 Jake Peavy had a very rough go with the Boston Red Sox but after he got traded to the Giants he pitched really well and was a solid contributor on their way to another World Series title.

Maybe Mahle will fill that exact same role with the Braves which would certainly be welcome because it would mean the Los Angeles Dodgers won’t win their third World Series title in a row. 

Why do the Giants fail to develop their pitchers?

But more importantly for the Giants, it makes one wonder why they aren’t able to get the most out of their pitchers. It’s not just Mahle who has had success after going elsewhere. Kyle Harrison has pitched really well since joining the Milwaukee Brewers and Erik Miller has been lights out after being traded to the Boston Red Sox. There’s clearly something the Giants are missing with these guys.

Whether this leads to coaching staff changes remains to be seen, but it probably should. The Giants are on track to have one of the worst records in the history of the franchise and while Vitello seems like he is staying put, the rest of the staff has to be rearranged to try to milk more out of the roster next season.

If the Giants are going to go the cheap route when it comes to pitching, they’d better have a coaching staff that can elevate mediocre talent so they really need to evaluate how they can improve on that side of things going forward after seeing Mahle and others pitch so well for other teams. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow