2024 had a lot of struggle bug-esque moments for the Braves, but one of the big ones was their inability to do… much of anything against Nationals starter Jake Irvin. The Braves and Irvin faced off four times, and while the Braves came away with two victories, the part where they hit against Irvin wasn’t very fun. He dominated them in May (Braves won 2-0 late), had an okay start that the Braves lost in June, had a legitimately bad outing in August, and then beat up on the Braves again in September.
For Irvin more broadly, 2024 was a pseudo-breakout where the fringy prospect, coming off a very fifth-starter-esque 2023, pulled together a 107/108/99 line that, but for the elevated HR/FB, suggested development into a higher tier of useful major leaguer.
But, so far in 2025, Irvin’s career has tottered substantially backwards. His line sits at 134/134/118, which is negative fWAR territory. Substantially worse fastball command has basically ruined him — Irvin’s 2024 was fueled by a highly repeated hammering of his four-seamer to the same up-in-the-zone area; he’s been a more generic “my four-seamer is a get-me-over” guy without precision this year, and that lack of consistency has led to him getting hammered instead. That’s partly why, when the Braves faced him back in May of this year, he didn’t really fare all that well, with a 1/2 K/BB ratio and a homer allowed — the Braves blew a lead late but came back to walk it off.
On the flip side, the Braves will be giving the ball to their 18th different starter of the season: Jose Suarez. Acquired way back at the tail end of Spring Training in exchange for Ian Anderson (who is back with the Braves), Suarez made three horrible relief appearances for Atlanta (57/156/151) and was then sent to the Gwinnett salt mines for his trouble. He made 11 starts for the Stripers and missed months with an injury in the summer, and at least you can say that his performance there was pretty good, given his mid-3.00s ERA estimators. Still, it’s a far cry when from Suarez was an effective swingman-starter guy in 2021-2022, and there aren’t any real expectations that Suarez is going to contribute to the big league club — if there were, he’d be pitching in relief instead of the carousel of nonsense the Braves have deployed over the last few months.
Game Info
Time: Tuesday, September 16, 1:05 pm ET
Location: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
TV: FanDuel Sports Network South / Southeast, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan
