Newcomb, McCann begin building rapport

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Brian McCann's scouting report of Sean Newcomb did not include new information. But the complimentary portion of the message served as a reminder of the Braves left-hander's tremendous potential.

"He's got one of the livest fastballs a hitter will see," McCann said. "If he pounds the strike zone, he's about as good as they come in baseball. I thought today he pitched phenomenal."

Newcomb recorded a strikeout and pitched around a pair of two-out second-inning walks while tossing two scoreless innings for the Braves in Tuesday afternoon's 4-3 win over the Mets at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex. He was making his first start of the spring and taking advantage of the chance to work with McCann, who was playing his first game in a Braves uniform since 2013.

"[McCann] even texted me [before Spring Training] to start talking about working together," Newcomb said. "He's been grabbing guys every day to talk about little things, and it's definitely been rubbing off on us."

Having played within the Braves' organization from 2002-13, McCann kept close tabs on his hometown team while he spent the past five seasons with the Yankees and Astros. The veteran catcher faced Newcomb while Houston was in Atlanta during the 2017 season and spent time this winter watching video in an attempt to get a better feel for the southpaw's strengths.

"I was trying to find ways that he can improve," McCann said. "When he's pounding that strike zone, his stuff plays at a high level."

Newcomb posted a 3.91 ERA over the 30 starts made in his first full Major League season last year. The average velocity (93 mph) of his four-seam fastball ranked seventh among left-handed starters who totaled at least 1,500 pitches. The potential effectiveness of this pitch was seen on July 28, when it accounted for 102 of the 134 pitches he threw while coming one strike away from no-hitting the Dodgers.

But Newcomb's primary issue continued to be inconsistent command. He produced baseball's second-lowest first-pitch strike rate (54 percent) and was ahead in the count just 25.5 percent of the time -- the game's ninth-lowest mark, per Statcast data.

"He's got the ability to command to his fastball, he showed that last year," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "When he commands that, they don't get at him very good. I thought he was good today. It was a good start."

Catching prospects

Alex Jackson's determination to improve defensively last year might have negatively affected his offense as he produced a .647 OPS and struck out every 2.8 at-bats for Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett.

But Jackson has created some optimism as he's shown defensive improvement and gone 3-for-5 with a homer and a double during the early part of Grapefruit League play. He hit a solo homer in the third inning of Tuesday's win and William Contreras added a two-run shot for Atlanta in the sixth.

Contreras is considered Atlanta's catcher of the future, but he likely won't be deemed MLB-ready for at least another year. Thus, the Braves are hoping Jackson can extend his success and provide insurance in the event McCann or Tyler Flowers are injured at some point this season.

Odds and ends

• Mike Soroka will begin throwing again Thursday, but he is at least a couple weeks away from being cleared to pitch in a game.

• Austin Riley recorded a pair of singles in the win over the Mets. The third base prospect entered Tuesday having struck out in each of his first five plate appearances of the spring.

• Patrick Weigel surrendered hits to two of the four batters he faced Tuesday. This was the first appearance for the right-handed prospect who missed most of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Up next

Ronald Acuña Jr. and Johan Camargo will be in the lineup when the Braves travel to Jupiter to play the Cardinals on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. ET. Highly regarded prospect Kyle Wright will make his first start of the spring. Instead of having to make the long trip, Julio Teheran will stay in camp to simulate two innings against Minor Leaguers.