by Intern Matthew Weitz
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves have signed former Cy Young award-winning pitcher Dallas Keuchel to a one-year contract.  The current plan is to give Keuchel a few starts in the minor leagues, but what will he mean for the Braves in the long-term?

Keuchel won a World Series while on the Houston Astros with current Braves catcher Brian McCann in 2017.  He is familiar with McCann behind the plate which helps.  The Braves pitching staff is currently made up of primarily young, yet talented, pitchers.  Having Dallas in the clubhouse to give them advice on how to improve their earned running averages could help the entire pitching staff.

Under the current Braves playing style, the pitching staff gives up plenty of runs, but their offense bails them out.  This cost the Braves dearly in the playoffs last year.

Dallas Keuchel is a phenomenal pitcher on the mound.  If he can help the other pitchers in the pitching staff to improve their ERAs, the Braves could become a contender for a championship.  They would still have a high scoring offense, but their defense would be greatly improved.  This could allow the Braves to win games even when the offense has an off day.

Although Dallas Keuchel has yet to be called up to the Braves from Triple A Gwinnett, when he is, he will affect the Braves both on and off of the mound.