The Braves were facing a very interesting situation two weeks ago. Paul Maholm was struggling, along with Kris Medlen, and the Braves had Brandon Beachy inching closer and closer to being ready to return from Tommy John surgery. Additionally, top prospect Alex Wood has dominated in every role the Braves had put him in and was probably one of the team’s best five starters on the roster. The Braves had a healthy lead in the division and had seven starters for five spots.

Today, things are quite different. Paul Maholm is about to be put on the disabled list and will miss at least one more start. Tim Hudson broke his ankle and is likely done for the year as he will receive surgery on the ankle this afternoon. Insert Wood and Beachy at least for the time being and the rotation should be fine enough to sustain itself for the remainder of the year, but will it be good enough to perform well in October?

A trade is certainly a possibility, but for now Beachy is slated to start on Monday for the first time in the majors this season. So with his impending return, what should we expect from Beachy? To start, not the pitcher he was at the beginning of last year. Beachy earned a lot of hype after the 2011 season where he struck out over 10 batters per nine in his first season as a starter in the big leagues. His ERA was not miniscule, but his FIP most certainly was. Because of this, people expected a big improvement in the runs allowed department the following year and that is exactly what happened. Beachy was having an All-Star caliber first half, but his strikeouts dropped and his walk rate rose. He was more fortunate than good in the first half of last year whereas he was more good than fortunate in his first full season back in 2011.

So far in his rehab starts he has shown a big lack of command, walking over five batters per nine innings in seven triple-A starts. That is very un-Beachy like. The Braves probably would have had Beachy make at least one more start at triple-A to get his command straightened out but Hudson’s injury has forced their hand. This causes me to be somewhat concerned about Beachy being productive in a fantasy format in the near future. Reports out of Gwinnett were that his latest start on Wednesday was the best he has looked so far this season, which is certainly a good thing. However, he still walked four batters while striking out just three over six innings pitched. At this point, I just do not have much confidence in him being that great right out of the gate.

For the long haul, I definitely think Beachy is worth holding on to though. I think he has the athleticism and skills in his arm to be effective down the stretch, but at this point that is me speculating more than analyzing. Looking at the raw data, there are questions to whether Beachy will be successful this season at the major league level. If you are in need of taking a risk in order to jump a few spots in your roto league, Beachy is a worthwhile target. If you are looking to be conservative, avoid him until you see some consistency. By that point he will have been long since acquired, so unless you are willing to take a risk then do not add Beachy right now.