The first half is now officially over… and the heavy lifting is about to begin. There are a lot of tough problems to solve; there are a lot of difficult calls to make.
The Atlanta Braves did not get the boost we were hoping for to end the first half: Houston was being Houston and the Braves missed a chance at something better than the 2-2 split in Washington.
So the team is now 42-45 and 9½ games behind Washington – a team themselves quite banged up and bullpen-beleaguered.
Worse, the Braves are about to start on what looks to be the toughest schedule stretch of the year:
- Arizona (3 games)
- Cubs (3)
- Dodgers (4, away)
- Arizona (3, away)
- Philadelphia (4, away – trade deadline at end)
Right after that, the Dodgers come to Atlanta, and August also features 7 games with the Rockies – the closest Wild Card team.
So what do you do if you’re Coppy?
Pitching
Who gets traded? Julio Teheran? Jamie Garcia (who is about 3 weeks too late to be moved, it seems)? R.A. Dickey? Wait until the end of the year?
Who replaces one or more of the above? Do you pursue Sonny Gray (who is pretty likely to be traded by Oakland)? Marcus Stroman? Wait until the end of the year?
How about the bullpen? Do you like what you’ve got? How much do you have to ‘pay’ to upgrade there?
Infield
Remember last Winter when the Braves were concerned enough about Jace Peterson to go out and get someone who could play second and/or third base? Yeah – Good times.
Since then, here’s everyone connected with the team who are rehabbing or who otherwise could handle the position, and/or might be ready to roll in the next week or so:
- Peterson
- Brandon Phillips
- Sean Rodriguez
- Micah Johnson
- Johan Camargo
- Ozzie Albies
That list doesn’t even count the positional juxtaposition deal with Matt Adams and Freddie Freeman. It also includes neither Rio Ruiz nor the surgically repaired Adonis Garcia (though his return is not imminent). So what happens here?
The most obvious move is a trade of Phillips. Peterson will probably be stuck at AAA for the duration. Travis Demeritte – not named above – could be trade bait.
Camargo – for the good work he’s done – could be forced to return there as well until September to leave room for Rodriguez and Johnson. But certainly he’s earned himself a spot … possibly at third base for a while.
Garcia might be back in September when rosters expand. Ruiz? Might have to battle next Spring with Camargo, but will have to refine his craft in AAA in the meantime.
Meanwhile, Albies is clearly very close now… but that’s a long list.
Outfield
On the next slide, I will be talking about Ronald Acuna, but that makes one wonder about the disposition of Nick Markakis, who has a full season remaining on his contract after 2017.
Could the Royals use him? Somebody else perhaps?
Acuña could be in line for a September call-up, but a Markakis trade could accelerate that considerably.
I foresee a very busy phone for John Coppolella over the next 3 weeks.
Good luck with that, Coppy. Keep a charging bank on hand.
Here’s the box from Sunday’s first half finale, won by Washington 10-5.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str | WPA | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ender Inciarte CF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .302 | .350 | .407 | .757 | 15 | 10 | -0.048 | |
| Johan Camargo 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .327 | .355 | .500 | .855 | 22 | 13 | 0.218 | HR,2B |
| Freddie Freeman 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .348 | .456 | .745 | 1.201 | 11 | 9 | 0.249 | HR,GDP |
| Matt Kemp LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | .293 | .340 | .486 | .826 | 19 | 10 | -0.027 | |
| Nick Markakis RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .284 | .364 | .393 | .757 | 17 | 10 | -0.140 | |
| Matt Adams 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .292 | .339 | .562 | .901 | 11 | 10 | -0.039 | 2·2B |
| Tyler Flowers C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .306 | .397 | .440 | .838 | 11 | 8 | -0.088 | |
| Dansby Swanson SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .221 | .296 | .324 | .620 | 15 | 9 | -0.105 | |
| Sean Newcomb P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 5 | 3 | -0.015 | |
| Lane Adams PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .222 | .250 | .333 | .583 | 2 | 1 | -0.023 | |
| Ian Krol P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.000 | |||
| Luke Jackson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Brandon Phillips PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .280 | .326 | .411 | .737 | 2 | 1 | -0.032 | |
| Jose Ramirez P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Sam Freeman P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.000 | |||
| Akeel Morris P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Jace Peterson PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .180 | .270 | .238 | .508 | 5 | 3 | -0.002 | |
| Team Totals | 33 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 36 | .212 | .278 | .485 | .763 | 135 | 87 | -0.052 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Note on the pitching lines:
- Ctct = strikes assumed based on batter contact
- StS = swinging strikes (swings and misses)
- StL = strikes looking
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Newcomb, L (1-4) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 4.26 | 20 | 97 | 60 | 30 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 41 |
| Ian Krol | 0.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.46 | 5 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Luke Jackson | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.62 | 6 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Jose Ramirez | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| Sam Freeman | 0.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.38 | 6 | 24 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Akeel Morris | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 8 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 10.12 | 42 | 182 | 111 | 61 | 16 | 34 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 41 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
MIAMI, FL – JULY 09: Yordan Alvarez #43 of the Houston Astros and the World Team celebrates in the dugout after scoring in the ninth inning during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Marlins Park on July 9, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
No Longer a Secret
The fact that Ronald Acuña was named to the Futures Game was a nice honor for the 19-year-old. That he started was a nicer honor. That he played the entire game was downright surprising.
That many suddenly took notice of Acuña’s talent – that’s just what Braves’ fans have been saying all year.
The newest TomahawkTake Top 50 recognizes this: Ronald Acuña is our new #1, displacing Ozzie Albies… who’s nonetheless really starting to tear into AAA pitching himself.
Baseball America has also figured it out, jumping Acuña from #62 on their pre-season Top 100 to #10 three days ago.
We’re still waiting on Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo over at mlbpipeline.com to wake up and smell the smoke coming off Acuña’s bat when he makes contact. They still have him as the 7th-ranked Brave prospect and 86th overall.
At least they are acknowledging that they are getting flak from Braves Country.
Enter Statcast
Mike Petriello wrote about the Futures Game for MLB.com and how impressed he was with all of these ‘future stars’ of the game. But he had one line separated and highlighted from the rest of his write-up:
“Acuna is the star of the show”
Hello! He went further, of course:
"All due respect to Rays prospect Brent Honeywell, who struck out four in two innings, and Marlins prospect Brian Anderson, who singled and doubled, it was Atlanta prospect Ronald Acuna who left us as impressed as anyone on the field. That’s despite the fact that he went 0-4, because remember, this is a showcase of talent more than it is about winning or losing."
…and even further…
"Forget the 0-for-4; suddenly, it’s easy to see why MLBPipeline calls him a five-tool talent, and reminds us that “evaluators get downright giddy when discussing Acuna.”"
More from Tomahawk Take
- The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
- Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
- Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
- Braves News: How the Braves got their name, mailbag, more
- Atlanta Braves Mailbag: New Year’s Edition
Here’s why:
- He’s still 19
- He’s been hitting.325/.374/.507/.881 since arriving at AA Mississippi
- Got the only “barrelled” ball hit in the game – with an exit speed of 112.3 mph
- That was the hardest hit ball of anyone in a Braves’ uniform for the year. Matt Kemp is next best at 111.9
- That wasn’t a fluke as he was the best of Team World in batting practice homers, getting a prominent mention in that writeup… by Jim Callis.
- He’s got an arm, too: three times firing outfield throws in above 90 mph (peaking at 96.7!)
In 54 games, he’s made 2 outfield errors, but that will play. Acuña also has 18 steals… though he’s been caught 11 times.
If there’s a flaw, it’s about his strikeout rate: in the 23-24% range. But he is hitting .325.
He’s already been at 2 levels in the minors this year – would not be surprised to see Acuña add a third one before August.
If so, Acuña will show up at Gwinnett dragging the mlbpipeline evaluators with him as they try to figure out how to get a ticket onto his bandwagon.
Next: The End of the Beginning
Might be a tough ticket… that wagon is already full.