By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Pay attention, because this one is going to have a twist ending.

Julio Teheran, the right-handed pitcher whom the Braves once thought could be their stud, is sadly kind of an afterthought in Atlanta these days.

Mike Foltynewicz is the young, flame throwing ace and he’s backed up by Kevin Gausman and a slew of homegrown prospects like Sean Newcomb, Mike Soroka, Touki Toussaint, and what feels like dozens of others.

There was a time when Julio was the next big thing and he’s got a pretty nice paycheck to prove it. He’s got two All Star appearances to his credit, and three out of his first four seasons he managed an ERA of 3.21 or less.

But something has just failed to click. He hasn’t been awful in the two seasons since that run, but he hasn’t been able to rack up wins. He went 7-10 in 2016, 11-13 in 2017, and dead-even 9-9 despite an ERA under 4.00 last season. For whatever reason, he just hasn’t been the guy that Braves Country wanted him to be.

Teheran has slipped from being a top-of-the-rotation piece to being the guy everyone was positive would get moved at the trade deadline. That did not happen but everyone knew he would get traded in the offseason. However, that didn’t happen either.

And now, instead of being traded, Julio Teheran is going to make his sixth consecutive Opening Day start next week.

Why not the ace of the staff? Where is Folty? Folty is hurt; maybe for all of April. Gausman has only made two appearances this Spring due to injury. Soroka has been sent down to the minors to begin the season. Newcomb’s second half struggles from last season seem to be following him into the new year.

So, Julio Teheran will make his sixth straight Opening Day start; not because he deserves it, but because he is the only option.

By hitting six in a row, Julio joins the illustrious ranks of legendary Braves pitchers like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Except, here’s the thing: no, he doesn’t.

He’s already surpassed them. Maddux never made six in a row. Neither did Glavine. Nor John Smoltz or Phil Niekro or Johnny Sain.

In fact, the only other pitcher in Braves history to start six consecutive Opening Days is Hall of Famer Warren Spahn.

In fact, Julio will be fourth all-time in overall Opening Day starts by the end of the week, trailing only Spahn, Niekro, and Maddux.

I don’t mean to crap on Julio. He seems like a nice guy and I like him. He’s been remarkably healthy for a pitcher in the 21^st century: he started 30 games his rookie year and has never started fewer in the five seasons since then.

He’s never had an ERA above 4.49, and his next highest is 4.04. That’s far from awful.

But the guy whose rookie season set Dixie on fire didn’t evolve into an ace. He didn’t become a guy who should be pitching the first game of the season for a sixth year in a row. And yet, here we go.