The Atlanta Braves are headed for October, and while plenty of attention will naturally fall on the players taking the field, one of the biggest reasons this team looks equipped for a postseason run has operated largely outside the spotlight.
Jeremy Hefner deserves a lot of the credit.
Hefner is in his first season as Atlanta’s pitching coach after spending the previous five years in the same role with the New York Mets. Given the injuries and uncertainty the Braves have faced on the mound, his first year in Atlanta has been impressive. If Major League Baseball handed out a season-long award specifically for pitching coaches, Hefner would have a compelling case.
Braves Rotation Keeps Delivering
The easiest way to see his impact is to examine what has happened in Atlanta — and then compare it with what happened to the team he left behind.
Start with the Braves.
Hefner developed a reputation during his coaching career for getting more out of veteran pitchers, sometimes helping arms rediscover the form that once made them successful. Atlanta has provided several examples this season.
Chris Sale has continued pitching at an elite level at age 37. Tyler Mahle has been excellent since joining the rotation. Grant Holmes is putting together arguably the best season of his professional career, while Martín Pérez has delivered strong work down the stretch.
The results speak for themselves. Atlanta ranks among the top five teams in baseball in starters’ ERA despite entering the season with legitimate questions about the depth of its rotation.
Sale is the obvious headliner, but the work behind him may say even more about Hefner. He has helped Atlanta squeeze meaningful production from pitchers who could easily have become secondary pieces on another staff.
And the rotation is only half the story.
Atlanta also owns the sixth-best bullpen ERA in baseball. Raisel Iglesias has posted a 2.59 ERA, ranking third in the National League and producing one of his stronger seasons. Didier Fuentes has developed into a dependable option in high-leverage situations, while Víctor Mederos has delivered a strong first season with the Braves.
Perhaps most impressive, Atlanta managed those results while spending much of the season without Robert Suárez, one of the bullpen’s most important weapons. Suárez was only officially activated Wednesday.
The Mets Have Gone in the Opposite Direction
Then there are the Mets.
Hefner’s former club has endured a miserable 2026 season on the mound. New York’s bullpen ERA settled around the middle of the league, but the starting rotation was another matter. The Mets ranked near the bottom of baseball in starters’ ERA and in the bottom third in quality starts.
Fredy Peralta provided one particularly striking example.
Peralta struggled badly in New York, posting a 4.99 ERA that represented by far the worst mark of his career. After the Mets traded him to Tampa Bay at the deadline, his performance stabilized. With the Rays, Peralta posted a 3.60 ERA, much closer to what he had produced during the rest of his career.
That contrast does not mean every pitching problem in New York can be traced to Hefner’s departure, nor does it mean every Atlanta success belongs to one coach. Pitching performance depends on the pitchers themselves, health, defense, game planning and plenty of other variables.
But Hefner’s first season in Atlanta is difficult to overlook.
Hefner’s Staff Is Built for an October Test
He inherited a staff with questions, watched injuries complicate the picture, and still helped produce one of baseball’s better rotations and a top-tier bullpen. Veterans have delivered. Less-established arms have emerged. The Braves have continued finding answers even when the obvious ones were unavailable.
Now comes October, when pitching depth gets tested in an entirely different way. Atlanta appears to have enough of it to make some noise.
Jeremy Hefner is a major reason why.
