By the Numbers: How Atlanta Braves stack up vs MLB Through 10 Games

The Atlanta Braves are officially one-sixth of the way through this all-too-short 2020 MLB season, and they’ve been very impressive to date.

With 10 games down, the Atlanta Braves find themselves atop the National League East with a 7-3 record largely aided by their current five-game winning streak.

There’s no question the back-to-back division champions are largely a threat to do so again this year, given their hot start.

One question to ponder, however, is just how good is this Atlanta Braves team when stacked up against the rest of baseball?

Atlanta’s seven wins are tied for the most in MLB, and the run differential of +17 is 4th best in baseball, so at first glance the answer to “how good?” is “pretty good,” indeed.

But how’s about a deeper look?

Through 10 games, we’ve now developed a healthy enough sample size to obtain a legitimate picture, especially when you consider that those 10 games account for over 16% of this bizarre season.

With team statistics as the guide, we get a very clear indication as to where the Braves rank in the two major facets of the game: pitching and hitting.

We’ll try to use a nice balance of both traditional team statistics, as well as the peripheral metrics that go into greater depth to tell the true story of performance.

Also, of course, when analyzing these numbers, let’s try to value rates over counting stats (especially considering some teams in MLB have only played 3-6 games due to COVID-19 safety measures), while also taking into account the extreme rates of those teams that have been affected.

For the Atlanta Braves, what are the strengths? Where are the weaknesses? How strong do the Braves measure up to the competition in some areas, and how short do they fall in others?

Let’s dive right in.

The Atlanta Braves offense scores a ton of runs, racks up a ton of strikeouts, and has some statistical inconsistencies. Confused yet?

This one might make your head hurt.

Let’s get the most important thing right out of the way: the Atlanta Braves are scoring a lot of runs, which is ultimately the name of the game.

Fifty-Seven runs, in fact, through the season’s first 10 games, which is second-most in all of baseball, just behind San Diego’s 59 runs.

So, everything’s great with the bats, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

A deeper look shows the Braves still have plenty of room for improvement, in terms of the offense.

The Good

At first glance, the Atlanta Braves ranks within traditional batting stats don’t immediately jump off the page.

The Braves sit 16th in batting average (.239) and 16th in on-base percentage (.316).

So how exactly does a lineup that’s fairly middle-of-the-pack in both AVG and OBP find themselves second in MLB in runs scored?

Perhaps the best reason for this trend? Extra-base hits.

The Atlanta Braves have an MLB-high 36 of them, tied with the Dodgers.

This tally includes an MLB-leading 24 doubles and 12 home runs.

To conclude, while the Braves aren’t one of the elite hit-for-average type teams in the game, the hits they do often get are the kind of higher-value, higher-impact hits you like to see.

What’s the cause of the extra-baggers? The Atlanta Braves have embraced the barrel.

According to Statcast, the Braves currently possess the 4th best barrel rate in MLB (barrels/batted ball event).

Atlanta Braves hitters are squaring up on the ball, combining increased exit velocity and optimal launch angle, and they are seeing results in the form of extra-base hits.

The Bad

With all the doubles and homers that the Braves hit, imagine for a moment if they had even a moderately higher rate of men on base when those extra-base hits took place.

This could be the case, if not for Atlanta’s poor walk rate.

The Braves’ 9.0 BB% is pedestrian enough for 17th best in baseball.

In fact, of the Braves’ 12 home runs so far this year, exactly half of them have been of the solo variety.

The lack of walks from the lineup isn’t necessarily a “problem,” but it’s definitely an area you’d like to see some statistical improvement, as it could enhance the run output to an even greater level.

The Ugly

Yikes! We knew this one was coming.

It’s the strikeouts. And yes, strikeouts are up across baseball.

But Atlanta is taking it to another level.

The Braves’ K% is 29.8%, or – in other words – next-to-last in all of MLB (only better than the Detroit Tigers).

Should we be concerned?

Now here’s where you’ll ponder on the new-age argument some might make that a strikeout is “the same as any other kind of out,” and that K-rates for a lineup shouldn’t be alarming.

I won’t go that far.

Strikeouts count the same as any other kind of an out, sure, but a lineup that regularly swings and misses to the extent that the Braves do also fail to cash in on run-scoring opportunities by not putting the ball in play.

They’re also the type of lineups that generally see significant problems in October when facing an elite, high K-rate pitching staff in the postseason.

Of course, it’s only been 10 games, but this will definitely be something to keep an eye on in the future for the Atlanta Braves offense.