Braves turn to JR Ritchie for game 1 in Miami

ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 29: JR Ritchie #92 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Truist Park on April 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Braves had a solid 4-2 homestand, winning both series and wil

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What is the story about?

The Braves had a solid 4-2 homestand, winning both series and will now take a quick 4 game road trip to Miami before returning home. This would be a nice time to get greedy and take 3 or 4 from this series against the offensively challenged Marlins.

For game 1 today, they will send JR Ritchie to the mound, facing Max Meyer from the Marlins. JR has gotten pretty lucky to have not been crushed so far this season, as he’s struggled with walks. He has been a bit caught up with the Braves’ bullpen depth

issue and been left in too long a few times. He hasn’t really done much impressive on the whole over his four starts, although he has done decently to prevent hard contact. For Ritchie to be viable longer term, the strikeouts will have to increase and the walks will have to dramatically decrease. He has a sub-par offense to deal with today, so hopefully he can build on a decent 4.1 inning outing last time out and give the Braves a solid start with some length.

Max Meyer on the other side is a former #3 overall pick from 2020, but has yet to make much of that talent at the major league level, posting three replacement-level seasons before having the beginning of what may be a breakout this year. Meyer has also struggled to remain healthy, but that shouldn’t mean anything to us today. Meyer has made things work with a 78th percentile K% and a 55th percentile BB%, despite somewhat below average contact metrics. He has a mid-90s fastball that is diminished by poor extension, but pitches primarily off of his slider and sweeper, which have been devastating this season. He’ll also mix in a changeup and sinker to fill out his five pitch mix. The sweeper has been a major development for him this season, only really introducing it last year and seeing a big jump in effectiveness this year. Braves hitters would do well to take advantage of his fastballs when he throws them, because those breaking balls are no joke. His sweeper in particular is thrown pretty hard and is a bit slurvy, but has impressive movement, while his hard slider is a fairly flat pitch, but an effective one.