Braves pitching prospect JR Ritchie continues to ‘stay at the work’

“I’m really sorry to hear about (Wentz). He’s been a great guy to me,” Ritchie told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “I don’t know what to expect coming into my first camp, he’s one of the nicest guys, introduced himself the first day, always asks me how I’m doing, what I need. He’s been a really, really good friend to me these past couple weeks.

“As far as my situation goes, I don’t think it really changes much. I’m just trying to keep hammering my process each day and keep my nose to the grindstone a little bit and stay at the work.”

Ritchie was impressive again Tuesday during his third Grapefruit League outing of the spring. He was charged with two earned runs but only allowed a single hit.

The 22-year-old issued four walks — he tipped his hat to the Jays’ patient approach for that number more than his inabilities to locate the strike zone.

“That’s just a really good, patient hitting team. That’s why they’re good, it’s why they made a run last year (to an American League pennant),” Ritchie said. “And it’s the first time that I’ve faced a lineup with a bunch of big leaguers in it a couple times through. So that was really good. I felt like I battled well.

“Didn’t have my breaking stuff as sharp as I wanted it to be. Change-up felt good, but again, they were just patient. Didn’t chase a whole lot. Credit to them because I gotta be able to adjust off that. I’ve gotta be able to recognize that early and be able to make adjustments.”

Ritchie, a right-hander, got a 1-2-3 first inning on seven pitches, featuring three variants of his fastball — a four-seamer, sinker and cutter. In the second inning he began to roll out his other three offerings (yes, Ritchie features six pitches) and started the frame with a walk to Addison Barger. But Ritchie got a slow roller to second and three-pitch strikeout of Davis Schneider before Braves catcher Sandy León threw out Barger at third after one of Ritchie’s sweepers hit the dirt.

Jays shortstop Josh Kasevich took a Ritchie curveball between the numbers to start the third. Ritchie countered by striking out Riley Tirotta on a change-up, got a pop up to deep right and then a grounder to first.

Two more walks in the fourth finally caught up to Ritchie. Davis Schneider hit a first-pitch RBI single into left field and Nathan Lukes hit a second-pitch cutter into center for an RBI sacrifice fly. The biggest takeaway for the young righty was immediately apparent, he said.

“I gotta be able to slow it down a little more to be able to adjust to stuff like that,” Ritchie said of the Jays’ selective swings. “I still feel like I executed pitches, just gotta be a ball closer to the zone.”

Ritchie has thrown eight innings this spring. He nearly matched his pitch total (61) Tuesday from his first two appearances by stretching out to 60 pitches against the Jays. His fastball came in at a tick under 97 mph and he threw at least one of his six pitches at least seven times.

With two weeks until the Braves’ final Grapefruit League game, Ritchie could get two more starts in with the club (and could be an option to pitch in the Spring Breakout game this month), which of course translates into more opportunities to learn — as he said he did Tuesday.

“(Ritchie) is very cerebral, very self-aware. There’s just so much thought that goes into how he prepares,” Braves starter Spencer Strider said this month. “He’s fun to watch, really talented pitcher. He’s got such good feel for his stuff, and a really good idea of what he’s doing off the mat as well.”