On Thursday night, right-handed starter Josh Collmenter will take the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks to face the Atlanta Braves. Collmenter's early struggles have been well documented. He had a bad spring and has struggled in his two regulars season starts. It is unsure how much longer he will be able to stay in the rotation.
Luckily for Collmenter, he has been very good against the Braves in his short career.
Collmenter has had very good success as well against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Against the Braves, he has given up only one run in 13 innings and Atlanta batters have hit only .140 against him. Against the Brewers in the regular season, he has yet to give up a run in 14 innings, striking out 10 and allowing a .130 average against him.
If he can replicate at all the success he has already had, then it would silence the doubters calling for Wade Miley, Patrick Corbin or even Trevor Bauer to join the starting rotation.
It is strange how things go in baseball. Pitchers or hitters will have unbalanced success against certain players or teams for whatever reason. Collmenter's performance against Atlanta and Milwaukee qualify.
It begs the question...does he wish he could pitch against the Braves or Brewers every time out? Especially now with his bad start, let's hope he is licking his chops and ready to pitch with some confidence, so he can bounce back and do what he was able to do a year ago -- get hitters out.