Who Are The Braves and Who’s Hot At the Quarter Pole
By Fred Owens
Hot or Not
The Braves saw success from unexpected places and lack of success in places they thought would be productive. Here’s the way it looks today.
A.J. Pierzynski was brought in to mentor Christian Bethancourt but his bat has been so much better than expected – 295/.330/.455/.784, 3 homers, 6 doubles and an OPS+ of 133 – that he became the starter. More on Bethancourt in a bit. Another surprise came in the person of former Baby Brave Kelly Johnson.
Johnson was a non-roster invitee to spring training but got hot at the of spring and earned roster spot in Atlanta. In the past few years KJ’s been mostly an all or nothing player and this year has been much the same but with added consistency. Before going on the DL was slashing .259/.310/.519/.829 had an OPS+ of 123 and an ISO exactly equal to his batting average .259. That power made him the defacto cleanup hitter. He was also nails with RISP posting a .300/.364/.800/1.164 slash with 3 doubles and4 homers. Then he strained his oblique.
When Craig Kimbrel went to the Padres everyone was focused on top pitching prospect Matt Wisler but the Braves picked up another former top prospect in Cameron Maybin. An Asheville NC native Maybin’s flourished since coming to Atlanta slashing .258/.357/.423/.780 with a 114 OPS+ with 4 homers and 5 doubles. His consistently good work with the bat moved him from the eight hole to the two hole behind Jace Peterson. In center field he’s been solid a significant upgrade even if the sabermetric stats don’t show it.
Wherever you put Nick Markakis in the lineup he hits. He’s been the two hole guy, leadoff man and now the cleanup hitter. His Slash .303/.391/.349/.739 tells you he doesn’t pound home runs but he is on base 39% of the time and with RISP he slashes .316/.395/.395/.790. He’s been solid if not spectacular in right field and a team leader
When the season started the Braves had Julio Teheran as the number one starter. Teheran’s struggles left an opening and Shelby Miller stepped up and took over the top spot. In his none starts he’s throw 60 innings posting a 1.65 ERA, an ERA+ of 296 and 0.883 WHIP while striking out 48.